Shards and Shadows
by gagaking
Summary: Shikako (from Silver Queen's story, Dreaming of Sunshine) winds up on Earth Bet in the middle of Bakuda's big debut. While surrounded by things that seem to remind her of both of her previous worlds, will Shikako be able to survive long enough to find her way back home?
1. C1:Shikako:Where did I end up this time?

" **Shards and Shadows** ". A DOS Worm Crossover fanfiction.

Edit: Now mirrored on Sufficient Velocity!

I had an idea for this crossover (Dreaming of Sunshine X Worm), and I actually typed it out.

I tried to make this fic as PC as possible in terms of at least language, so it may have some characters speak a little OOC to be more PC, but I try to keep to the spirit of the characters.

This story originally appeared (first few chapters) on the DOS Crossover plotting thread, topic/180237/140553015/52/DoS-Crossover-Plotting.

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Edit: This is the first chapter of the first arc "Making Friends". It lasts until chapter 6.

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The DOS canon world snippet has been changed from what it was on the forum.

I do not own the rights to Worm (by Wildbow), Dreaming of Sunshine (Silver Queen) or the story DOS is based on, Naruto (by Masashi Kishimoto). I also do not own the Discworld series (by Sir Terry Pratchet) even though that is mostly (up to this point) a throwaway gag.

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 **Chapter 1: Shikako: "Where did I end up _this_ time?"**

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I didn't know where I was or what had just happened, but I was definitely not in Konoha anymore. They definitely didn't have buildings shaped like that, or with metal, and…

My thoughts were interrupted as I sensed someone throwing something at a group of people near me. I turned and ran as the *bomb* exploded. After the initial explosion however, I watched the shrapnel seem to slow down and stop in midair.

I took a second to check my surroundings. I had never seen architecture this technologically advanced in any village. The only place I had ever seen it had been… but that was impossible. Anyway, they had never had bombs that could stop time there, and no one had the chakra I could still feel flowing through me.

My best guess was that this was some kind of genjutsu. I made the hand seals: "{Release!}" I shouted… and everything was still there. Well, I didn't want to reveal this technique in possibly unallied territory, but the smoke from the explosion was still around and there also seemed to be some sort of dark smoke in the air, like when dad uses his 3d shadow technique. I poured my chakra into my gelel stone and created my shadow twin. Which still detected no sign of genjutsu.

I had been able to break out of Yakumo's genjutsu with this technique, one of the strongest genjutsus of all. That it couldn't break this implied there wasn't any genjutsu to break past. This was real.

A woman wearing a red mask called out at me. I startled as I realized it was in English, a language I hadn't heard in decades. "Hey you in the green ninja costume. I don't remember you being invited. You here to join the ABB? It's a great time to join! Great new leader, and our growth rate's been exploding. I'll give you the whole recruitment package later but I need to finish making my big debut. Just stay here and be patient for a bit."

She then hopped down threw another bomb from near her feet into the 3d shadow and ran to a truck nearby. I wasn't quite sure what to do, but I knew that she _probably_ wasn't working on the right side of the law, and she was _definitely_ dangerous, tossing bombs with weird effects all over.

I made my choice running after her. She was near her truck, but she turned and saw me. "You think you can take me on? Well try this on for size!" She yelled as she tossed another grenade at me. I threw a kunai at it and knocked it off course. It exploded on a warehouse nearby, and seemed to start to implode. Until I realized that it was actually just shrinking.

She was going to reach her truck, filled with her bombs in a few seconds unless I stopped her. I called my shadow half back so I could think better, and then rushed ahead. Unfortunately, while I got close to her, three of her subordinates blocked my path and pointed guns at me. Only one actually looked like he was going to shoot me, so I made sure to knock him down, and he seemed to go out. More rushed me, without guns, but I quickly took them out, checking to make sure the two with guns still weren't aiming at me. They weren't. Also none of the ones that had rushed me felt trained. I noted that I hadn't sensed any chakra coming from any of them to soften the blows either. Odd. Even civilians had some ability to shield with chakra.

Unfortunately, that distraction had slowed me down enough so the woman was able to reach her truck. A truck filled with her special bombs, and a grenade launcher.

She ordered her two remaining men nearby with guns to aim them at me and aimed _her_ grenade launcher at a bunch of costumed teenagers who had just exited out of the darkness and said " There. All my little ducks are in a row. Too bad, but you didn't have a chance. Take one more step and I blow you all up in the most interesting of ways".

The woman who had thrown the bombs was talking to the teenagers. I silently sent my shadow out to try and catch her. I tried to make the approaching shadow as unobtrusive as possible as "Bakuda", as the yellow haired teenager had called her continued talking about how she was going to rule through fear and needed to make a big impression.

It was late afternoon, normally a great time for shadow techniques, as the shadows were at their longest length. The problem was that our shadows were perpendicular to each other and she might notice if they shifted on the ground too much.

Thankfully, the distance was still manageable, and Bakuda and her guards were focusing on the other costumed people instead of me. That seemed strange, after all she had no idea what I could do, but on the other hand, I wasn't moving, and there were four of them and only one of me.

I noticed something odd. No one seemed to have any chakra. Well, that's not quite true. They had something similar to chakra, but it was just enough to keep them alive, and didn't seem to be in active use. The only exceptions were the four costumed teenagers and the woman, Bakuda. Even then it was weird. I could tell the pseudo-chakra wasn't spread evenly throughout their bodies.

Bakuda's, the blond girl's, and the bug girl's pseudo-chakra seemed completely focused around a small spot on their skull, or more likely, their brain. However the black suited person and the white-carnival-prince costumed person had it spread throughout their bodies, though it was still far more concentrated in their heads. I spared a thought wondering if the black suited person was male, and if the people's here's powers were separated by gender.

Bakuda was just asking one of her "new recruits" to shoot the teens, when I felt my shadow reach hers. "{Shadow possession complete!}" I called out. All at once everyone turned to me. " Uh… she can't move any part of herself … other than her he- face unless I let her." I managed to get out.

I had kept up my knowledge of English over the last decade and a half and used it to write some of my journals in code. However, I hadn't used it that much, and almost never spoke it. It was hard to remember all the correct words in time or how to pronounce them correctly. Luckily, I was a Nara, so if I spent much time here I would pick it up again very quickly.

For a moment all was still except for the sound of Bakuda putting down her grenade launcher. Then Bakuda told her "new recruit" "Park Jihoo? I changed my mind. Kill her instead". "No, I can't…" he cried out. I grimaced. I hadn't captured anyone besides Bakuda to save chakra. I hoped that hadn't been a mistake.

"Do it or I'll kill you. I don't need to move to be able to kill you all. You know that all I have to do is think at you to kill you. Now go ahead. Shoot her!"

Park Jihoo started shaking as he slowly started to point the gun at me. But then he threw down his gun and started shaking his head and tears started flowing out. "No. I won't kill someone in cold blood."

Bakuda screamed in rage and I felt her try to move her toes, but while her eyes and mouth could move, her feet could not. A few of the foreign-looking faces filled with fear, that slowly changed to confusion and possible hope, while some of the familiar-type looking faces (would it be "Asian" in this world I wondered) started looking around uneasily but they weren't making a move yet.

That did not seem to hold true for everyone as a swarm of insects suddenly swooped in on Bakuda and the others on the truck.

I heard people scream out in fear, and the one remaining soldier with a gun (the second had given his to Park Jihoo on Bakuda's orders) also fell to the swarm. I heard a voice call out to me "Hey, you in the green ninja outfit. Do you get hurt if we attack the person you connected with?"

"No." I called out. Well, not unless something forces them to move a distance like hitting them with a battering ram, but they didn't need to know that.

I then felt a bunch of tiny, not painful pinpricks all over through my shadow connection, and after a few seconds I decided to speed up the process. I took a knockout tag out of my pocket, and walked over to Bakuda, trusting that the bugs wouldn't attack me personally. They didn't. Climbing up on the edge of the jeep, I made sure Bakuda's hands were empty, then I placed the knockout tag on the back of her head and activated it. I felt her grow limp, only still standing through my jutsu. I let my jutsu end with a sigh of relief and Bakuda collapsed on the jeep, near the edge. That just left the other ABB members, and with the swarm distracting them, and the fact they weren't in the best of shape anyway, it was a simple matter to take out with a few good blows, and knockout tags.

I noticed that the person in the black suit had also been busy, and there were few others taken out, including a few with guns I had missed, though they all had what I thought were probably called "Asian" faces in this world, if it had been like my original one. This obviously _wasn't_ my original world, no one was able to create those kind of bombs or control insects like that where I had come from, but the clothing and technology of the architecture implied it was a lot more like my original world then the one "Shikako" had grown up in. So I decided to try and think of this world as similar to my original one, and try to find out how much it differed ASAP. Then I would see about getting back home.

One of the "new recruits" walked closer to me, stopping about 10 feet away. "Ma'am? Do you know how to stop her bombs? She said they would go off at a thought, but they didn't. Is that because of you, did you stop her?"

"No, I'm sorry, I can't help… wait…" I stuttered out and thought back to when she had threatened to blow them up, and the pressure to move my toes. I approached Bakuda.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you noticed that, but her bombs were set off through toe rings. How did you manage that anyway, did you get some sort of feedback from that paralyzing ability of yours? Oh you did, huh? Cool. Hi. My name's Tattletale, and you probably want me to remove them from her for you. I don't know how much you know about explosives… ok more than I would have suspected but… wait what? What kind of explosives are you used to? What ? That makes no sense…. Wh… "

She shook her head. "Anyway its not important right now. I should probably handle removing these. Regardless of your experience, you might just accidentally trigger them and blow up the whole neighborhood, and every one of these 'new recruits' of hers here. Stand back. "

And with that she moved up to Bakuda and started very carefully sliding the toe rings off in a very particular order, making sure not to rub any together and to turn some of them in counterintuitive ways before sliding them off. She then removed Bakuda's high-tech goggles and dragged her over the side, "So she can't just wake up and have a bomb in hand in a second "she called out to me. The black suited person then went over and broke her arms and legs, so she wouldn't be able to escape when she woke up. That seemed a bit harsh since she was already taken out, but they could probably be healed again easily, and she did throw out grenades everywhere.

While she was doing this, I was getting out one of my empty storage seals out to put Bakuda's bombs in. This way wouldn't have access to them, and while I probably wouldn't use them myself (I didn't know what each of them did), it was possible I could study and figure them out and then use them later. I could have put them in the bracer on my left sleeve with the prototype infinite hammerspace instead, but I wasn't too confident in it yet, and didn't want to reveal it until I needed to.

Tattletale just stared at me. "Or you can put them in your own little pocket dimension. That works too. Normally I wouldn't think it was possible for someone other than Eidolon to have more than one power that strong with such little connection between the two, but I think we both know the normal rules don't apply to you." She looked like she wanted to say more, but didn't.

I was probably ( _definitely_ if Tattletales words meant anything), making myself stand out even more, but I couldn't let Bakuda keep her bombs if I could help it, especially with the way she was using them. A worry for another time. For now, I replayed Tattletales speech over in my head. First I had seen someone use a technique suspiciously similar to my dad's in appearance, then I had seen someone attack with bugs like the Aburame clan does, and now this girl seemed to be able to pseudo read my mind on the fly similarly to the Yamanaka clan? This group of teenagers had abilities that correlated _shockingly_ well with the signature techniques of the clans from Konoha. This was either a very good sign from the universe that I should consider them this world's representatives of my home village and so trust them, or it was a very bad sign that implied they knew who I was and how I had gotten here.

I had thought it might have been that strange book I had picked up, but that didn't make any sense. Regardless of how odd and out of place the book was, why would a story about a 5th rate wizzard getting sent to another country to save them supposed to send me to this world? Especially since I was _pretty_ sure this world was not the discworld spoken of in the book. Though these were Interesting Times…

Anyway, I wanted to check the theory of how well they matched up with their reality. If the yellow haired girl matched the Yamanaka clan and the insect-costumed girl matched with the Aburame, and the black skull costumed person matched with my own Nara clan, then did that mean the boy with the scepter had some sort of dog related power a la the Inazuka? It didn't really match his costume but…

"Hey Tattletale," I called out to her as she walked back. She shook her head at me and said "Just give me a sec."

"Hey everyone. Bakuda can't blow you up now, but she will be able to if she manages to escape and make another remote. Someone should probably call the PRT and let them pick her up. Also, you may want to look into hanging around people with EMP's, or leave town for a while. There's a chance that even if she does get a new remote and manages to escape, that the detonators have a set range they can transmit to. Sorry, but there's not much else we can do for now. Don't try to follow us though, or else we will go after you as well."

She turned back to me. "Yeah?"

"Is his power related to dogs?" I asked pointing to the white-carnival-prince man.

She replied. "No. The one who creates the powerful monster dogs is Bitch, or Hellhound if you're PC. Speaking of, we should go out to look for her, make sure she and her dogs are ok. If we wait too long, she'll be even less pleasant to hang around." She paused. "By the way, you definitely aren't around here, and you don't even seem to be that used to speaking English. Where are you from exactly?"

I hesitated. This wasn't good. Being near someone who had access to a version of the Yamanaka clan's powers, who didn't think it was rude to use them at all times? With the amount of secrets I held? Maybe it was just a matter of asking for privacy first? It's possible the rules of etiquette are different here.

"I would prefer to keep my secrets my own, if you please".

She grimaced. "But you're so interesting! And I was just trying to see if you needed a place to stay for a while, if you weren't planning to be here."

I frowned, but I did need to figure out what to do for the city, and there was unlikely to be much free food or shelter around the area. I didn't know if my money would be accepted as currency here, or even if the few food supplies I had sealed with me were still good. Theoretically it should stay good forever as it was in a separate space-time. But travelling across dimensions/universes might have meant the rules had changed. Also, they were unlikely to attack me, as I had acted as an ally, and their similarities to the clans in my village gave me a suspicion they would be very important people for me to know here. Also, if they did try to cross me, well, I likely had at least a few ways of escaping they weren't prepared for.

"Yeah, that would help." I was so very glad I was a Nara and had kept up my knowledge of English. Things were bad enough without having to waste a huge amount of time relearning a new language instead of being able to simply remember it with remarkable accuracy, at least enough to get the main point of what was said so far.

"We're going to go meet up with the last of our teammates." Tattletale continued. By now, the Aburame girl and the white-carnival-prince man had walked over and joined us. "Bitch can be a bit temperamental, especially around new people, and her recent situation hasn't been likely to put her in a good mood. You should probably hang back a bit."

I nodded. I was curious though. "What's his ability?" I said pointing to the white-carnival-prince man who waved his scepter. Suddenly I tripped, or would have if I hadn't has as quick reflexes as I did. As it was I barely stumbled. "Wow, good reflexes there. My name's Regent. I control people's nervous systems, make them go zig when they want to go zag, that kind of thing" He told me. Looking at him up close, I could see bright light-blue eyes through his mask. Not white, but definitely unusual. And his power seemed to match with the last remaining major surviving clan of Konoha, the Hyugas. His controlling people's nervous system mimicked their control over people's chakra flows. Also, since I didn't sense anyone other than them with chakra above the bare minimum needed for survival, it would make sense that this would be the analogue. Possibly more useful even, as it could work from a distance.

"Oh sorry." The _man_ (confirmed) in the black suit said. "Introductions. I'm Grue, the leader of sorts of the Undersiders. The girl with the insect powers over there is called Skitter." She waved at me. "You already met Tattletale and Regent, and we're going over to go get our last member, Bitch."

Ok. So that was everyone. But wait, there were other bloodlines from my village that hadn't been represented in this group. I wonder if they were somewhere else.

"Are there any people here who can wood control? Or make strong genjutsu? Or power copy?" Wait… did I use the proper grammar for that? Too late now.

Tattletale looked at me oddly. "There's no one here who can control wood or create it, as far as I know, and I know a lot. Genjutsu is a ninja term that means using a trick or illusion to unbalance your opponent, but you mean more than that don't you? You mean actual mind control or manipulation, or projecting actual illusion worlds. No, no one here has that power as far as I know."

"I told you to stop trying to read my mind." I told her angrily, with a little amount of fear I didn't show. She was someone to watch out for.

"Sorry, Sorry, won't happen again. My power just turns on sometimes when it catches something. As for that last one, Uber can learn any skill or technique by watching it and applying himself, which is kind of like copying. He never joined us for, shall we say, different approaches to life. I think cape life is like a game of cops and robbers, where you don't cause too much harm, and they let you go to prison in a revolving door to help fight the Endbringers. He… tends to think there's nothing more to life than advocating for the "under-appreciated art of video games."

Here Grue spoke up. "On the surface that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but he thinks there's nothing else worth doing, and he'll copy the worst aspects of that game, like beating helpless people up when mimicking GTA."

So, long story short, no Senju, or Kurama clan representation here, and the Uchiha clan was separated due to outlook differences. Ok then.

"I found Bitch. Ms. … what should we call you? You haven't given us a name yet." The Aburame girl, no, Skitter spoke up.

"Oh right. My name is …" and I stopped. The others had given me things to call them yes, but they had identified by names that fit their powers. Well, other than Grue, but that could be just because I didn't know what that was. Even Bakuda meant "bomb" in my native tongue, probably called Japanese here if the landmasses were the same as my original world.

They probably had a good reason for it, as well as the masks they wore. Well if I were to have a name that fit the powers I would be showing what would be appropriate? Well, obviously it had to have something to do with shadows, and while I didn't want to make too much out of my explosions due to them possibly mistaking me for Bakuda, I still planned to use them if I had to. So those would probably be my main two powers shown. What name goes well with shadows and explosions?

And then I had it. Hopefully she wouldn't be too mad at me for taking it as my alter ego, but hey if she found out, that meant someone from home knew where I was and it would be easier to go back. If she never found out, what's the harm?

"Call me {Fire Shadow}." I said.

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Meanwhile, back in DOS cannon.

Rincewind didn't know where he was, but he knew he didn't want to be there. A lot of people were staring at him, and they didn't look friendly. He decided he would do what he always did in these situations, run.

He was quite proud of his running. Despite his large size, he was surprisingly fast, and running away had been what had allowed him to stay alive so long, despite what life wanted to say about that.

Unfortunately, he had never had to deal with people like this chasing him. They were even faster than him, and were using some sort of magic to teleport.

"What have you done with Shikako Nara?" One of them said as he gripped him till it hurt.

"Who?" Rincewind asked. Great. Yup. He was being thrown into yet another adventure. Why couldn't he ever be sent to a place full of potatoes and be forced to just live there and eat them? That was something he could actually enjoy.

"Don't play smart with us! We'll see what Ibiki will have to say to someone who tried to kidnap one of our ninja." Another hissed at him.

Ninja? Why did all the crazy things always have to happen to him!

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First chapter of first story!

Also, Word is surprisingly bad at spotting my grammar and spacing mistakes. I tried to catch them all though.

I don't know if or when I will ever write about what happens to Rincewind. It was meant as a gag for how Shikako got to the Wormverse.

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POSSIBLE SPOILER below:

Shikako has been affected by her travels across dimensions. While she has basically the same level of intelligence as in DOS, she has the equivalent of emotional jetlag from the trip. She feels a need to find something familiar and fit in far more than in canon, and her emotions are a lot more wild and manipulatable. This will be in effect for a few days, and may have long lasting repercussions.


	2. C2A:Taylor: Ooh! Shiny new bugs!

This chapter takes place during the same time as the first chapter, but from Skitter's perspective. Chapter 2 part B takes place after, when they are getting Bitch and deciding what to do about Shikako.

I was originally going to have the second chapter be from Tattletales perspective, starting from right before Shikako appeared to the whole next part afterwards, but realized that it was mostly just repeating what had happened with Shikako, as Tattletale had been in most of the scenes anyway. I then switched to Taylors perspective, and here it is.

I also wanted to decide on whether or not to give Taylor any access to Kikaichū, but then decided I would for two reasons. One, it helps fix my pitiful explanation before at how Taylor was able to take down as many of the ABB members as she did. Two, and far more influential, I read Einargs post on the forum and decided, why not?

Note: a few lines in this chapter are lifted directly from Worm,

I do not own the rights to Worm (Wildbow) or DOS (Silver Queen).

 **SKIP THIS CHAPTER.**

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 **OPTIONAL Chapter 2 Part A: Taylor: Ooh! Shiny new bugs! Oh, and a new cape.**

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We'd misjudged. We'd thought that it had only been Uber and Leet, but then it turned out that they had been working for Bakuda. When we saw her, we had tried to run and escape into Grue's darkness. We went towards where only a single ABB member was waiting, before Tattletale pulled us up short. "Trap! Down!"

Then the hologram of a person exploded, and despite the distance, and that I had balled myself up, it still managed to hit me. Luckily my armor protected me from everything but the impact when I landed after getting lifted up by the blast. Unfortunately, my teammates didn't have such good protection "Ow! I'm burnt!" Tattletale cursed as we kept on running. No time to stop and check how bad the injuries were. If she hadn't warned us, and we had gotten closer to it before it went off… I didn't want to think about it.

"We have to move," Grue urged us, "This gets ten times harder if she finds us. Tattletale, watch for-"

"I already found you," Bakuda called out, emerging from the smoke. "Not that you were hard to find," Bakuda continued, sweeping her arms out to gesture at the devastation all around her. "And if you think this only gets ten times harde-"

Grue blasted her, silencing her, and his darkness billowed into a broad cloud as it struck her, enveloping her group. We took advantage of their momentary blindness to scramble for the other end of the alley.

We kept running, and somehow, we didn't get hit by another bomb. Something I thought deeply wrong and strangely worried about. Then Grue cursed behind me. I couldn't see anything or use my power in his darkness so I asked him what had happened. He pulled the darkness away in a small diameter around us and said "Some kind of time stopping grenade. It didn't get that close to us, but it stopped everything it hit in time. Also, She may have used a teleport grenade or something to summon one of her teammates. Or not, she seems to be preoccupied with a new Asian girl in a sort of green ninja costume that just arrived.

A new Asian cape? Who Bakuda didn't recognize? That could be either very good, or very bad depending on how she acted, and with my luck I was betting on the latter. I wished I could find out more, but we were far too deep in Grue's darkness for him to discretely open a path for me to look at her.

We scrambled across the lockers and came up against six members of the ABB. But only one of them looked like a typical gang member. The others just look scared. The one member ordered the others to attack us but they hesitated before running up too us. By then we had already gotten out of the way and Regent had managed to make them trip over themselves to insure they couldn't pursue us. Why does the ABB seem to have so many members?" Regent gasped out. "They're only with the ABB out of fear, not loyalty. She's forcing them to serve as her soldiers. Threatening them or their families, probably. Probably been working on them since Lung got captured." Tattletale answered.

Grue had lessened his darkness by this point so we were able to see Bakuda throwing a bomb at someone just out of my sight. Well, wonder of wonders, it seemed the new cape wasn't one of Bakuda's allies despite her nationality. Was this an internal disagreement or was she just trying to get revenge on Bakuda for something she had done to the capes family or personally? I didn't have much hope that she was just a new trigger honestly trying to be a hero. It was possible, but, well, there was a reason the heroes were outnumbered 2-1 by the villains.

We turned and ran the other way. We weren't prepared enough to risk fighting, and I didn't have enough good bugs with me. Lesson learned, never travel anywhere without a large quantity of useful bugs. Then I noticed something. On the new cape there were bugs I had never felt before. There weren't many, only about a dozen or so, and I could tell they were really small. Yet, despite that, they transmitted their senses as well as a much larger swarm of normal bugs, and it was more easily translatable. I needed to get more bugs like that if I could. I made them come over to me, and was somewhat surprised at how fast they complied.

We couldn't actually stop to wait for them to reach us; we were in too precarious a situation. Yet if we did manage to get out, I might be able to keep them in my range long enough to collect them, and if we were delayed but managed to escape, I would definitely get them.

Now my objectives had moved up to three. One, escape this alive and if possible, stop Bakuda along the way. Two, rescue Bitch and get the money back. Three, get access to those bugs. I had sensed a female among them. If I could get them to breed…

We continued running away, until we saw what looked like an army of ABB thugs blocking the path. Tattletale cursed and pulled us in a different direction, almost going back the way we had come. 'Oh no' I thought, 'if we kept going in this direction we would bump into…'

And then we turned and saw Bakuda, atop her jeep, waving a grenade launcher at us.

I noticed the new Asian cape was also standing away from Bakuda. She was wearing almost casual clothes, though it obviously seemed based off some ninja theme. She had a headband on with some sort of spiral symbol on it, and a facemask that only really covered her mouth. Not the best cover, but she was new, probably.

Bakuda started monologuing to us about how she had learned from Lung about how to rule through fear, and how this was going to be her chance to show the world who she was so that no one would ever dare challenge her again.

I tried to gather what I could of my swarm. On the bright side, if we managed to get through this, I had the bugs I had sensed earlier. And yes, there was a female who was capable of breeding! Even better, they seemed to be able to regrow a whole colony from just a few bugs, and I suspected that there growth rate was something I had never before witnessed. The problem? They needed food to be able to breed en masse, and they didn't seem to be very full. They also didn't seem to want to eat the less useful bugs I sent them. What would they eat? I sent them a response to find food and they flew up to my hair and onto my scalp. They eat people? That's not a good sign, but they didn't have any poison, so I let them try to eat what they could.

They were getting fuller, but they hadn't bitten me yet. I did feel a much larger drain from them from my power but… wait. They ate powers? That… was so cool and yet so wrong. How could bugs have evolved that fed on powers? Unless this was that new capes power? It was possible, but she didn't seem so concerned that I had control of them, and there only had been about a dozen of them. Well, three dozen now. They were breeding in my hair. That sounds incredibly disgusting, but they were doing it so fast, with so little wasted movement that it didn't really bother me. I started to wonder again just how much my power had affected my brain that I no longer found this creepy or even unpleasant.

Anyway, if I could just keep them breeding at what was, frankly, an absurd rate, I would be able to create a swarm to hide in and maybe attack with. Then we could escape. I wondered where they were getting the mass from. My power didn't summon mass like some others did yet it appeared to be sufficient for their purposes. How did that work anyway?

Unfortunately, Bakuda was winding down in her speech. And the new bugs- I would have to give them a better name than that if I kept using them- hadn't bred enough to really help us yet.

"I don't have enough bugs yet. What can we do?" I whispered under my breath to my teammates. Then I noticed Tattletale twitch a finger at me. I looked up and she was smiling. What?

"Kage Mane Konpurīto!" The new cape shouted and I turned to look at her. I could see her through my bugs, but there weren't that many of them, except for the new ones, which apparently needed to be touching my head to breed, so they couldn't give me much extra sight.

"Uh… she can't move any part of herself … other than her he- face unless I let her." She said.

Tattletale nodded. I didn't even need to turn my head to look at her. With Bakuda out of the way, and the ABB members focused on the new cape, I should have enough bugs to actually do something now. I gathered my bugs and dispersed them among the crowd, so I could attack quickly when needed.

While I was doing this. Bakuda was being forced to put down her grenade launcher, and she was trying to get one of her new forced recruits to shoot the new cape, who refused. She tried to kill him, but despite her claim that she could kill just by thinking at them, nothing happened. The remaining ABB members with guns realized something was wrong and started trying to get in position to shoot the new cape down.

There weren't that many who still had guns, and between their terrible coordination and huge focus on stopping _us_ , none of them was currently in a position to shoot _her_ , who had suddenly become a top priority. My bugs took care of them before they could change that. As they took their guns off us to try to aim at her, I was able to swarm them with my bugs. The new bugs were capable of sucking blood, but more than that, apparently they had the ability to steal energy, and the gang members I hit soon dropped down to the ground, some still struggling, others just limp.

I was hesitant to attack Bakuda though. I didn't know if doing so would hurt the new cape as well, and that could cause a lot of trouble if she thought we were attacking her while she was helping us.

Tattletale read my hesitation and asked her if attacking someone she had shadow paralyzed would hurt her as well. As soon as she replied no, I attacked Bakuda with my new bugs. However, she seemed to be resistant to their effects. Possibly because they were focusing on her power, rather than her normal energy to move think and remain awake. They also apparently couldn't attack her normal energy supply directly, unlike with the unpowered ABB soldiers. Useful to know.

Noticing that I wasn't knocking Bakuda out, the new cape reached into a pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and walking forward to meet Bakuda who was doing the same, she put the piece of paper on the back of Bakuda's head. She then drew her shadow back and Bakuda collapsed.

She then proceeded to put similar pieces of paper on the foreheads of all the other knocked down ABB members, some after elbowing or otherwise knocking them down. Grue was also taking down some of the remaining ABB members, until almost all the people still standing were those who had been forcibly recruited and not attacking.

One of them walked forward and starting talking to her, than she and Tattletale approached Bakuda, and disarmed her. Grue broke her arms and legs for good measure.

Then the new cape started putting Bakuda's bombs into what looked like… a sheet of paper? The designs looked different but similar to the papers she had pasted on the ABB members foreheads. She must have been working with a tinker that specialized in… what? Paint and paper?

She started talking with Tattletale some more as I collected some of my bugs back.

Regent and I walked forward and met up with them.

As I was reaching them Tattletale was offering her a place to stay. I frowned inwardly. Yet another person I may end up liking and having to betray if I went through with my plan. And despite the fact that I had never heard of her before, she obviously must have been prepared and been a cape for a while. After all, she had seemed quite coordinated, and competent, unlike most new triggers. She also had access to some previously unknown tinker tech, so she wasn't working alone, which also implied she had been here for a while.

Yet despite this, she agreed. I was surprised, but I wasn't about to argue with Tattletale. Arguing over helping someone else when she had done the same for me would not do me any favors. Even if it was still possible it was a trap.

She then asked what Regent's power was. He tried to trip her, but failed, and she found out that he had power over people's nervous systems and that Bitch was the one who made the monster dogs.

Grue must have realized that he hadn't introduced us formally yet, and proceeded to do so. I waved at her when he called out my cape name.

Then she asked if we knew anyone else around here who had powers involving wood, something called genjutsu, or power copying.

The only capes around here with anything close to any of those were Uber and Victor. However, Victor was more a power thief than a power copier, so Tattletale only mentioned Uber. I wondered why she had mentioned those specific power sets. Was she part of a group of capes that were meeting here? Something to ask Tattletale about later.

We had been walking towards Bitch for a while now, and now we were getting really close. It probably would not be a good idea for her to see the new cape, especially in Bitch's current position.

"I found Bitch. " I told the rest of the group. "Uh.. Ms. …" Wait, she had never given us a name yet, had she? "What should we call you? You haven't given us a name yet. "

"Oh right. My name is …" and then she hesitated. Either she was thinking there might be something bad associated with her name, and was thinking of changing it, or she hadn't come up with one yet. Either one only added to the mystery of who she was and what she was doing here. I'd have to ask Tattletale about it later.

Then she seemed to compose herself. "Call me Hokage." she said.


	3. C2B:Taylor: Searching for Goodies!

Here is part 2B of my mini worm-DOS crossover. It is from Taylor's perspective.

NOTE: This section doesn't have Shikako in it, but it is a continuation of the part that did. The next part will have Shikako in it.

Anyway, I hope you liked it!

Also, since once again this is my first published story, any reviews that help let me know what you liked or what I could improve on would be appreciated.

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Chapter 2 Part B: Taylor: Searching for goodies!

* * *

After telling us her name, Tattletale pulled out a disposable cell phone and gave it to her, with a number inside to reach her. She then spent a minute teaching her how to use it. How could she not know how to use a simple disposable phone? Well, I'm sure Tattletale will fill us in later.

Then we walked away to go get Bitch. After walking for a bit, Grue whispered to us under his breath "What's your take on the new cape?"

"She's definitely not from around here. Not even from our world, or Earth Aleph." Tattletale whispered. What?

"She also has a variety of powers, that don't all fit into a common theme. What's more, some of them are quite potent. First, she's some kind of low-cost tinker. Those tags she placed on Bakuda and the other ABB members foreheads? Acted like touch activated knockout drugs. That paper she put Bakudas bombs into? She created it. Not to mention she has a small brute-thinker rating at least, and her shadow paralysis, which can affect a large number of capes at once. I also think she has more powers besides. Especially since she chose the name 'Fire Shadow' in Japanese, which implies she has some sort of fire or explosive ability we haven't seen yet." She continued.

"Aw man, I just tried to trip an Eidolon? I am so screwed." Regent complained.

"Wait, brute-thinker?" I asked, trying to process what she just said. My bugs also informed me that the new cape had left. I don't know where she was going, but she had gone out of my range, or at least out of sight of large gatherings of bugs.

"The thinker classification is really broad. It really should be split down further into brute-thinkers and thinker-thinkers. Brute-thinkers are like Uber, technically thinkers, but their power affects their muscles more than their thoughts. She had very fine control over her muscles, and could adjust for Regent's power. In contrast, my power is more like a thinker-thinker power as it only affects my thoughts, not my muscles." Tattletale explained. Oh. Ok, that made sense.

My mind was swimming with the new information. So if she had just gotten here from another world it was possible the bugs had just been taken as well, as they had been on her at the time. That meant it was possible they weren't part of her power, and I didn't need to worry as much. On the other hand, that also meant they were in a brand new ecosystem, with potentially serious ramifications, it would be hard or impossible to do research on them, and since this new cape seemed to have a wide variety of powers, it still wasn't out of the question they were still more closely related to her somehow.

"So _is_ she her world's Eidolon, or what? And what is she doing here." Grue asked.

"Tattletale shook her head. "She's not Eidolon, and she doesn't know what she's doing here, and we really shouldn't waste time talking about this now. Look, for some reason, we seem to have powers that greatly coincide with those of her friends from her world, and she's taken that as a sign that she should stick with and possibly trust us. Before we meet up with Bitch, I have to ask. Are there any objections to at least considering the idea of getting her to join us as a new member?"

"So when she was asking about the wood, mind control, and power copying capes, were those also the powers of her friends from her world?" I asked.

"Yeah, but they weren't as important to her. More like people she knew, but not very closely. Well, except the power copier, though she still thought he would be the most likely to split off from the rest of us. We five were much closer to her, or something. Now, as I said, are there any objections to at least considering the idea of getting her to join us as a new member?"

Grue shook his head. "We shouldn't have this conversation without Bitch around. We don't want her to think we were going around her or that she isn't a part of this team."

Speaking of… "Bitch is just around the corner, and across the lot. Lets get her and get out of here. She's been beaten pretty bad. It had stopped for a while, but someone's attacking her again." I said.

Grue cursed. " Where are her dogs being stored?" He asked.

"In the warehouse next to where to where they're keeping her." I replied.

"Ok. We need to prioritize rescuing her dogs. If Bitch finds out we went for her first, she'll chew us out. Skitter, do you have enough bugs left with you to get them into position for both of the warehouses?" Grue asked.

"Yeah, these new bugs are really fast breeders. Just give me a minute, and I'll be able to lock down the people inside."

Grue looked at me. "New bugs?" He asked.

I winced. I guess I hadn't told him yet. "Yeah. They were on the new cape."

You're relying on new bugs from another world, that may or may not be part of another capes power." He asked me incredulous.

"They're very useful, and I'm keeping them." I replied.

He shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands in the air in exasperation. Regent chuckled.

"Fine, but be careful with them." Grue said.

We waited for a tense minute as I sent my bugs to join the few already in the warehouse. It had been surprisingly sterile, though it was open now and that was about to change.

Then I thought I had enough. Many of my bugs were blocking the guns that a few of the other members had, and it would be hard for the gang members not to notice something amiss if I sent anymore in. I sent out the order to attack. The gang members cursed and screamed. Some curled up in a ball or tried to slap the bugs off, while others tried to run. They didn't get far. Only one managed to get any real distance away, and he collapsed after about a block.

We went in and stripped the fallen members of their weapons, then Regent and I went to free Brutus, Judas, and Angelica, while Grue and Tattletale went to free Bitch. I took the key I had found on one of the ABB members and opened the locks. Instantly the dogs ran out and into the next warehouse where Bitch was. Regent and I walked in to meet up with our team.

There was still one ABB member left awake, and he looked terrified. "You'd better hope for your sake, you were telling the truth." Grue tells him, before putting him in a sleeper hold and then placing him on the floor.

"If he was telling the truth, you don't go after them understand? I'm not letting you go until you agree." Grue said to Bitch as he took off his mask and looked her in the eyes.

Bitch cursed him, but having her dogs free and licking her seemed to soften her. "Fine." she growls out. And looks down. She's in bad shape. She's bleeding in multiple locations and has a few noticeable bruises.

Grue stares at her a moment longer, then nods and cuts her loose.

She falls to the floor and cuddles her dogs.

"Lets go see if he was telling the truth. He said a large portion of our money in a warehouse 5 down and 3 up from here. Then we can discuss the new cape and whether or not we will be asking her to join us." Grue continued.

Bitch's head shot up. She started cursing and complaining about how we never asked her permission about anything and were trying to manipulate her when Grue glared at her.

"Now, we have _not_ decided whether or not we were going to invite Hokage in yet. We wouldn't do that without consulting you. You are a part of the team, for better or worse, and we will hear you out. I should warn you though, we have offered her a place to stay for tonight."

Bitch growled at him but he held up his hand.

"This cape has shown multiple powers, including what Tattletale says is a strong tinker power, and against all odds, apparently has decided to trust us and see us as allies. I will not have you going after her or trying to scare her off before we even decided how we're going to proceed."

Bitch cursed at him and complained a few more times, but they had less spirit in them now.

"She also had a friend who also had a dog related power. Apparently, he loved dogs as well and made sure to go after anyone who attacked them with extreme prejudice." Tattletale supplied.

We all looked at her. "When did you find that out?" I asked.

"She had been going to ask if Regent had some power with dogs, just based on her theory, even though she had never heard of or seen Bitch's monster dogs before. I traced the thought and found out about her other friend." Tattletale explained.

Bitch still seemed mad, but got quieter after that.

"Look, This isn't the best time or place to talk. We should get our money and go before more stuff happens or the PRT arrives." I reminded us.

Bitch enlarged Brutus and went to ride him, but Grue forced her to enlarge Angelica and Judas as well for us.

And with that we rode (Bitch rode Angelica) off to where the thug had said our money had been stored. Only about half of what had been taken was there, but we had to cut our losses. We took it and went back to the base.

Bitch wanted to go off on her own but Grue wouldn't let her, saying that after what she had just been through, she needed to stay.

I knew the reason was that she wasn't in good physical condition, and wouldn't be able to easily fight, control herself, or get away if she was attacked. However Brian managed to convince her by reminding her the new cape was going to be coming that night, and Rachel should probably get a chance to see her if she might be joining the team.

I looked us over. While the fight had not gone nearly as badly as it could have, we had not come out unscathed. Brian and Lisa had been burnt by Bakudas bombs, Regent had basically used up his power so badly that his arm was basically useless and a huge ball of pain, Bitch was barely standing, and she was only capable of that through pure stubbornness and all of us had taken large amounts of blunt damage, and were exhausted.

Lisa pulled out her cell phone and made a call. Yeah, we need medical attention, but we have someone coming tonight. Any chance we can get a quick check up in the next 1-2 hours?"

She turned to me. Do you need to get checked up? And what do you want to do about tonight? Do you want to go home, or stay here to meet Hokage?"

Well now that was a problem. My dad might get worried if I didn't come home, but I also really wanted to know more about Hokage, and whether or not she knew anything about my new bugs.

"I don't need medical attention, but I won't say no to a quick check up. I also want to stay and meet Hokage, but I want my dad to know I'm ok. At the very least I want to call him and let him know I won't be coming home tonight." I said.

"Ok." Lisa said. She kept talking into the phone and then hung up after about five minutes.

"Ok lets go make sure we're all still okay and don't have any serious injuries. It should take about an hour or two to deal with any urgent problems. First though, Taylor needs to call her dad. What reason should we give for why you're staying over? Oh! I know! We'll say that I was caught in the explosion and got hurt, and that I asked you to stay with me to protect me while I'm recovering."

I hesitated. I didn't like lying to my dad, but this could be really important, and I had already made my choice and would see it through. I nodded my head.

She made the call and handed me the phone. "Hi dad. Do you mind if I stay with Lisa tonight? We were traveling by the docks today and she got hit by the debris from one of Bakuda's explosions. She asked me to stay here with her tonight while she recovers."

"Taylor, are you hurt?"

"No, but Lisa is."

"Taylor, are you ok? Are you being forced to say this? If you are being watched and are in danger say everything's fine. If you are truly ok, say I've being held hostage."

"I'm being held hostage, dad. Can I stay over?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Can I talk to Lisa?"

"Sure." I gave Lisa the phone. She chatted with him for a few minutes, and apologized for taking me away from him. I could feel the manipulations at work and felt terrible for how we were lying to dad. After a minute she gave back the phone to me.

"Taylor?"

"Yeah dad?"

"Be safe. I love you Taylor."

"I love you too dad."

I hung up.

Well, all in all, my day could have gone much worse. Maybe it was possible for good things to happen to me now that I was a cape.

Anyway, all that was left for tonight was a quick medical check up, and then meeting up with Hokage. I looked forward to it.

* * *

Author's note:

Explanation for How Tattletale knew what she knew:

First thing to remember about (my version of) Tattletale. She can lie, and she can bluff. She does not need to reveal what her power told her, or if she found it from another source.

1) Shikako did ask if Regent was the one with the dog power, Tattletale did not predict it. That has been fixed in the chapter.

2) The way she knew the shadow imitation could affect multiple people is she saw it start to branch off, then stop right before touching someone because Shikako wanted to conserve chakra. She interpolated from there.

3) The powers not fitting into a common theme, she saw multiple powers already that don't fit into a common theme. Shadow Imitation, super reflexes, tinker/striker power. This doesn't require her power at all.

4) She knew the tags were Hokage's because she was close enough to see they were similar "handwriting"/style as the pocket dimension seal, as well as seeing how familiar and comfortable Shikako was with that. That implied she knew its workings intricately, and the fact that she had two different kinds lead her to realize she had created them. This led to her believing Hokage might be a tinker. If her materials are paper and ink, that is low cost.

5) She was fishing for tells when asking about the toe rings. She didn't know, but was trying to get confirmation one way or the other. The only thing she really picked up from Shikako about explosions is that she has had a lot of experience with them, and can create her own. She was purposefully overacting to try to elicit other reactions and thus information.

6) She was getting suspicious, so she mentioned Eidolon to see if it triggered a reaction. When it didn't, she realized Shikako had never heard of Eidolon, so had amnesia or was from another world. She then realized it was the was confirmed when she asked where she was from.

7) She noticed that Shikako didn't know the exact nature of their powers, and was from another world, yet knew about a dog powered cape in their team. She guessed it was because it was a similar power to a group she had from home.

8) She sensed that Hokage trusted her and the Undersiders more than she should, and didn't know why. This supported the friend/power thing theory, which is now still just an educated guess. She knows it is slightly off, but not sure how and it works for her purposes.

9) She says why she thinks Hokage has more powers. Hokage= fire shadow, no fire powers yet, she must be hiding some of her capabilities.

10) She didn't know anything about Hokage's dog-power associated friend from home, but was saying what she thought would calm Bitch down.

A word of advice (for this story at least) is to take anything that Tattletale says comes from her power with a grain of salt. She is capable of figuring things out on her own, and may be making things up, or getting the information from other sources that she doesn't want to reveal. She loves being the smartest person in the room. When she isn't, why not lie and pretend to be? Also, why give up all your secret sources of information when you already have a handy excuse available?


	4. C3:Shikako: No good deed goes unpunished

Here's chapter 3!

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 **Chapter 3, Shikako: No good deed goes unpunished**

* * *

The Undersiders walked off to get their teammate, who had a dog related power.

Time to explore and see what I could find out. I tried to sense where the greatest concentration of people was, (other than the group of people who had been forced to work for the ABB back there).

Actually why not ask them where important parts of the city were? Bakuda was unconscious so they would probably be willing to help me.

I knew there were prisons, Tattletale had told her about them. The fact that she had called them "revolving" was a bit unsettling, but if it was only to fight something deserving of the name "Endbringers" that was probably good enough. Bakuda probably was one of the "dangerous capes" she had talked about so they might not even put her in one of those, in favor of a more permanent method of keeping her off the streets. Well, it was their law system, and until she had a better grasp of it, she would just try to defer to them.

What worried me though was that it had taken me a bit to think of this. I was a Nara, so slow thinking was not something I liked to think about. Maybe I had taken some temporary brain damage during inter planetary travel? That needed to be looked into.

I ran back to where we had fought Bakuda a few minutes ago. The crowd had dispersed somewhat, but most of the forced new recruits were still there. I changed my appearance with a shadow illusion jutsu and approached one of them. He seemed confused and afraid of me until I pulled him aside and undid the part of the illusion over my face.

"It's me. Where are the police located? And the hospital?"

At first he seemed scared by my changing appearance but then he answered me. "The PRT is located north east of here, about 3.5 miles away I think? The hospital is about half a mile south of the PRT building, I think. Sorry, none of us have been able to get a signal with our phones, or internet, and I haven't had to go to either of those buildings very often."

Internet? OH. Internet! I hadn't heard that wonderful word in so long, I'd forgotten what it sounded like. Oh, Internet… I wondered if this world had heard of Naruto before? Now I understood the extra importance of having a mask.

And wait, if there was no signal, that meant that they hadn't been able to reach the police force to come pick up Bakuda. That wasn't good. I might have to take her to them myself. I couldn't risk her getting free.

I asked the man if he knew anyone there that might know the directions better. He went back in the crowd and soon after pulled out a woman who looked to be in her early 30's. She gave me much better step by step directions (and the actual correct location, probably). I thanked her and turned to Bakuda.

I grabbed her, and even though her arms and legs were broken, and the knockout tag was still in place, I decided to tie her hands together with much-less-sharp-than-usual ninja wire. I also checked for any more hidden explosives. After noting it was secure, I picked her up and sped off.

I decided to remove my resistance seals. I would be carrying someone with me, and speed was important. I then sped off where the woman had directed. After about ten minutes of running, I noticed that there was a big disturbance nearby. A giant explosive had gone off in two separate buildings.

I frowned. Was there yet another explosives expert here other than Bakuda and myself, or had she given orders to set off the bombs? Either way, I needed to drop her off at the equivalent of the police station as soon as possible so I could come back and see what I could do to help.

Technically, this wasn't my village and I wasn't under any obligation to help them. On the other hand, there were innocent people in danger, and well, I could help.

I also noticed that there were a few people who saw me, and more pressingly saw who I was carrying, and either tried throwing things at me, getting in my way, running away screaming, or saying "oh god" repeatedly to themselves. This was not a good sign, even if I was able to maneuver past them pretty easily.

I was close to arriving where the woman had said the protectorate was, and saw a disturbing site. There had been a _lot_ of explosions here, very recently. I saw the protectorate building, it was very distinct and obvious, and was partly floating on the water like the woman had said. I ran to the front door, only to be greeted by a few soldiers who pointed their guns at me.

"Wait! I'm here to turn in Bakuda! I'm not attacking you! What's going on?" I called out.

They didn't seem to believe I was there to help, but after a few seconds of pause one replied. "There's been explosions all over town, and we've been very busy. If you really are turning in Bakuda, lay her down, and we'll go pick her up."

The other person glared at the first, but I slowly put Bakuda on the ground and stepped back. They then sprayed her with a kind of foam from a container on their backs that seemed to encompass her.

"Thank you very much miss…?" The first PRT agent asked.

"Hokage" I replied.

"Right. Thanks Hokage. We'll take it from here, and mark you down as the one who turned her in so you can get credit for her capture."

Well that didn't sound good, but if I refused, that might make them suspicious it was a trap. Was there a bounty on her, or some other reason why I should need credit for her capture? I didn't know enough about the customs of this place to know. Well, hopefully if I asked them to just keep it anonymous it wouldn't be too much.

"Can you put it down as anonymous? I just got here and -"I just felt a huge amount of pseudo-chakra approaching from the inside of the PRT building. What could possibly-

An 8-foot tall humanoid dragon burst out the front doors and jumped out. The two PRT agents tried to shoot him with the foam, but he just dodged it and spat fire at them.

They dodged, but landed badly. They wouldn't be able to dodge if he attacked them again. The dragon man roared and then fired at them again.

I wouldn't be able to get to them and get them safely out of the way in time.

"Āsusupaiku no Jutsu!" I shouted as fast as I could and spat out a stone spike bullet at the fireball. It hit, greatly weakening the blast so that the PRT members were only lightly damaged and they turned, dropped their foam canisters and ran away. Unfortunately, the dragon man was now staring at me and… was he growing?

He growled something that sounded like a highly distorted version of "you shouldn't have done that little girl." And then he charged at me.

I panicked. How was something that big moving that fast? Right before he hit me I activated the substitution jutsu and switched with one of the discarded foam canisters.

The canister exploded open, enveloping the right side of his body in foam.

He roared in anger and frustration, and continued growing. Yup. He was definitely a few inches taller now.

"I'll eel oo!" He kept shouting at me. He… probably meant to say something else.

He then turned and spat another fireball at me while attempting to cut through the foam with his left claw.

I jumped to the side, and it barely missed me. I could still feel the intense heat though. If that had hit me straight on, I would have been a goner.

He seemed to be having trouble with the foam, so I ran to the other canister and picked it up. Meanwhile the dragon (can't really call him a dragon man at this point) was starting to have some success with clawing his way through the foam on his right half.

I started to feel doses of high amounts of pseudo-chakra approaching from inside the PRT building that was getting progressively closer, as well as a much more steady (but not as powerful as the dragons) source of the pseudo-chakra also approaching, but I couldn't get distracted by that now.

I ran closer to him and he shot a few more fireballs at me, but without my restriction seals, I was fast enough to dodge them, for now. They were getting bigger, hotter and faster each time though so I didn't know how long that would last.

It was a race against time. I needed to get him coated in the foam to remove his leverage before he grew powerful enough to claw his way out of the foam he already had on him. I knew that if he escaped the foam at this point, I was done for. What's worse, I was starting to run low on chakra, and I doubted that someone who could grow in combat like that was about to run out of his pseudo-chakra anytime soon.

Hopefully I could get close enough to him to spray the foam before the battle reached a tipping point against me… and then I felt someone extremely close to me who hadn't been a second ago. I turned and kicked out at a man in a demon mask who exploded after a second. And then I felt him behind me again and kicked him again, and he exploded again and was next to me now.

What was going on? The dragon shot another fireball at me and I barely managed to dodge, only to land in front of the exploding man. Actually, I hadn't fully managed it. One of my storage scrolls had caught fire. This was very, very, very bad. I managed to toss it to the side before it sort of collapsed in on itself and exploded in a tiny explosion. It had only been one of the excess storage scrolls, effectively empty, so that was good, but if it had been one of the others… I didn't want to consider it.

More pressing to me now, I had just been knocked down, and was low on chakra. I didn't have enough time to cast another jutsu before the man in the demon mask would explode again.

And then he was brutally hit away from me by what looked to be a giant hammer/sword made of light.

A man in a white and golden armored suit flew out of the PRT headquarters. That attack had bought me enough time to get my balance back and I sprayed the exploding man. He got hit on his right hand and it glued it to his side. He was then next to me still glued by the foam, but… he was also in front of me? And then a few seconds later the copy in front of me turned into ash.

A shadow clone! But a weird version. And how did he copy the explosives? The shadow clones kept the items on hand, true, but the copied explosives were never even close to as powerful as the original would have been. It was one of the reasons that technique wasn't the mainstay of every ninjas arsenal. Maybe this was another way in which the powers here mimicked the ones back home, but not completely.

The man in the golden armor flew up to me and blocked the most recent fireball with his shield. He also knocked the copier away.

"Take care of the teleporter. I think I can stop the dragon!" I called out to him.

He looked at me with his face tilted in a way that screamed, are you crazy? But went after the teleporter.

Meanwhile, I went after the dragon.

During this whole fight after I had grabbed the second foam canister, I had been maneuvering my shadow closer to the dragon. While the teleporter had slowed me down and forced me to pull it back, with him out of the way, I was still much closer to the dragon than I had been when I picked up the canister.

This was a desperate situation. If I got hit here, I would die. And he was getting very fast and very strong. Also, I would have to get close to him to hit him with my jutsu. I didn't have much chakra left. I had to make what I had count. I prayed this would work.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" I shouted. And there were 3 of me now circling the dragon.

He roared his distorted words and tried to shoot all 3 of me with fireballs almost simultaneously. He was almost out of the foam. Fortunately, all 3 fireballs had missed me. I had crouched down behind one of my clones, and his fireball had gone over my head.

And… there! "Kage Mane Konpurīto!" I shouted in triumph as I stood up. The dragon roared in rage. But there was nothing he could do as I tilted my head up towards the sky to stop his fireballs and used my left hand to aim the foam dispenser at him and shoot. Once I was sure he was encased, and I felt his struggles to fight the jutsu weaken. I released it and collapsed.

I truly hoped that was enough to stop him, because I was basically out of chakra.

I saw the gold man approach me hesitantly from my position collapsed on the ground, and thought he must have captured the teleporter.

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to succumb to the darkness.

* * *

I awoke a bit later in a hospital bed, but still in my costume. There were two doctors in the room with me. I felt around in my costume, but all my stuff was still there. Despite what had happened, there was something I felt I needed to do.

"Hey, I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to take you up on your offer of hospitality for tonight. Something's come up."

"What happened?"

"Oh, I fought a dragon and a teleporter. I'm now in a hospital. Bye."

"Wait, what?"

I hung up. There. Now that's taken care of. I put my phone in one of my pockets, and drifted off to oblivion again.

* * *

There's part 3. Let me know what you think of it!

Also, no, the stay of hospitality with the Undersiders will not happen that night.

minor edit: I made Lung only about 8 feet when he first arrives (instead of 9), because Draggish pointed out Lung shouldn't have been that tall that soon. I thought that he had fought through the PRT security, but that might not have made him grow all that much. He grows faster when he faces more dangerous opponents (like capes) and the only cape on duty was Dauntless who hadn't managed to actually fight him much at that point. I might change this back, but likely won't change much that actually affects anything in the story after this chapter.


	5. C4:Colin:A hero's work is never done

**Chapter 4: A hero's work is never done.**

 **NON-story notes**

1) I had originally put it up to a vote on the DOS crossover forum on whose perspective this chapter would be from. The Heroes won.

2) The profile page is based on the one from The Goblin Queen by Bligoh.

3) I had a small amount of beta support for this, as Essex2 gave me some advice when I posted it on the forums.

4) I posted an explanation for Tattletale knowing what she did in chapter 2b, since someone asked about that. Also, a small possible spoiler explanation at the end of chapter 1.

5) On the report Armsmaster looks at, there is a short description of what kind of powerset that refers to in parenthesis. It is for the readers, and is not actually on the paper Armsmaster reads.

6) Yes, I know the name for the walkie talkies is way too overblown and/or too silly. Armsmaster went overboard and created needlessly complicated walkie talkies, that are now just called tinker tech walkie talkies.

7) Yes, I am changing the effects of the knockout tags a bit. I'm fine with that.

 **Bit of background for Worm canon so far:**

At this point in the story:

1) Armsmaster is the leader of **The Protectorate** , the group of age +18 government sponsored superheroes in the city. **The wards** are the government sponsored superheroes who are under age 18.

 **The PRT** runs the Protectorate and the Wards, and is comprised solely of people without powers.

2) Armsmaster knows Skitter (bug control) infiltrated the Undersiders, a group of villains, to find out their and their boss's secrets, and then reveal them to the PRT. Basically, Skitter wanted to be a mole, Armsmaster told her not to, but didn't actually stop her or tell anyone. He is the only one in the PRT/Protectorate who knows.

3) Skitter took down the dragon man (Lung) last Friday, and Armsmaster took the credit, the highlight of his career. Unfortunately, Lung was near dead at that point and they had to bring in a healer to save him.

4) The Undersiders robbed a bank on Thursday April 14. The Bakuda fight (start of this story) happened Friday April 15. Hokage was not with the Undersiders as of April 14.

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Colin/Armsmaster: A hero's work is never done**

* * *

This had not been a good day. I had heard about bombings at various different important locations all throughout Brockton Bay. A bridge had gone out, a school, and then the reports had stopped when the phone cables and power lines went out in a variety of locations. _I_ could still get phone calls in and out thanks to my tinker tech suit, but that didn't mean much when everyone around me wasn't able to take a call. Fortunately, my team was equipped with what amounted to "tinker tech walkie talkies". I had tried to insist that they were quantum wavelength communicators, but they had insisted for so long that now even I thought of them that way.

I sighed in annoyance. I had already sent out Miss Militia, Assault and Battery out to minimize the damage from the bombs in the other locations. Meanwhile, I was struggling to get some peace and order and capture the ABB members who had thrown the bombs in the first place. Unfortunately there was chaos due to the bombs and people never reacting calmly and orderly like I wanted them to.

I grunted angrily. There would have to be another PR meeting after this to fix the mess. There were too many of those, too many cape gangs in Brockton Bay causing trouble that the Protectorate was perpetually outnumbered and caught off-balance. Well, I would try to make the most of it, but it would be a long night.

* * *

At around 8:00 at night I was replaced by PRT soldiers and instructed to go back to the PRT headquarters. The phone lines in many areas had been restored since this afternoon.

I got on my motorcycle, (the Armscycle 5000) and sped off towards the PRT headquarters.

When I got there, I saw that there had been a lot of explosives here, and a fight had apparently occurred. I grimaced. I really, really hoped Lung hadn't escaped while we were all away dealing with the bomb cleanup.

I went inside, passed through the biometric scanners and confirmed my id, and was escorted to Director Piggot's office.

"Armsmaster," Director Piggot greeted me dryly, as usual. "Please give your report as to what happened tonight."

"We heard reports of bombings at the Brookfield bridge, Clarendon High, and a few other businesses in the area. My team and I went off to investigate and do damage control while also trying to catch the individuals responsible for throwing the bombs. As new explosions became evident, we became increasingly spread out. The explosions seemed to slow down in the last hour. Then you called me back here and here I am." I answered.

Director Piggot frowned. "That was basic and to the point. Good. However, tell me Armsmaster, did it occur to you that perhaps the bombings were a distraction, so that Oni Lee could come and break Lung out of PRT custody?"

I felt a cold sensation tingling down my back. This was not good. I hadn't been doing well lately. I had already been caught by a distraction and let the mayor's niece get kidnapped yesterday. If not for Triumph's insistence that we would be able to help her, that could have ended a lot worse than it did. It still might. Triumph had come up to me afterwards and made me promise we would find and help her, or else he would personally make us pay.

That had been in addition to the bad rep I had gained from the state "I" had put Lung in when I brought him into custody last Friday. No, the big deal wasn't that "I" had captured one of the most powerful villain capes in the city, and the leader of one of the two biggest parahuman gangs. No, the big deal was that he had been almost dead when I brought him in. I had been stopped from going out into the field for two whole days afterwards, and had to get all my equipment checked! Skitter had handed me a bomb in the form of Lung back then when she allowed me to claim credit for his capture, and I hadn't even realized it.

"… No ma'am," I looked down angry and frustrated. "But even if I had, protocol would have forced me to go after the active, rather than the potential threat, and Dauntless was still here to keep guard." I tried deflecting the impact of my mistake.

Piggot frowned at me as she realized what I was doing, but chose to ignore it. "Well, Armsmaster, it would appear you may get off without more than a warning. Lung is currently in captivity, as is Oni Lee and Bakuda." She continued.

I startled. Wait what? All three of the ABB's capes were in custody? How?

"How?" I called out in what would have sounded wispy and high pitched, if not for my voice changing software. I so loved that feature. "Did Dauntless-'"

"No." She interrupted me. "Dauntless played a role in stopping Oni Lee, but it was the Undersiders and a new cape who took down Bakuda, and the new cape singlehandedly took down Lung after he escaped. She is currently resting in our hospital wing, as she collapsed after the fight."

A new cape, capable of taking down Lung, who just happened to arrive in time? I felt conflicted. On the one hand, Lung, Bakuda and Oni lee were in PRT custody, and I wouldn't suffer the PR loss of having let Lung escape after being distracted by the bombings.

On the other hand, I hadn't been the one to take them down this time. It had been a new cape who just happened to appear and take them down, and possibly had even done it without causing them fatal damage. This would mirror with my own attempts and make me look even worse. All my efforts to rise up in rank and reputation, and then a new cape just came out and trumped my up-to-this-point best accomplishment? It was so unfair!

"What are her powers?" I hissed out, though the voice changing software made it sound much calmer than I was.

"She's a grab bag cape, has a variety of powers, with no obvious common theme. She said her name is Hokage. Have you ever heard of her before?" Piggot asked me.

I ran the name through my data links. There was no match. Well, no match after the Kyushu attack from Leviathan. The name meant "fire shadow" in Japanese, implying it was some sort of pyro ability.

"No." I replied truthfully. "Has she shown any fire abilities?"

Piggot shook her head. "Take a look at her profile so far." She tossed a folder she had had under the desk at me. I looked at it.

* * *

 **Parahuman file** # 00120412-01

 **Cape Identity:** Hokage

 **Age:** appears to be between 12 and 15 years old.

 **Gender:** Female

 **Affiliation:** unknown, high likelihood of being with the Undersiders.

 **Costume:** Wears a gray/green hikers jacket (lots of pockets) over a light black shirt. Wears long black pants. Wears a headband with a special spiral symbol on it. Also wears a small black face-mask. Gives off the impression of a Kunoichi, but no one can really understand why. Has a number of scrolls attached to her waist. Wears a necklace with a small green attached. Has a black bracer on her left arm.

 **List of Hokage's displayed powers, and rank:** (the Bold name indicates the kind of power, the number lists how strong it is, from 1-12, 12 being Eidolon level).

 **Mover 3** (capable of moving or teleporting across long distances quickly, or flight related powers):

1) Can switch places with inanimate objects a short distance away. Can possibly also stop bombs teleported using this method from exploding.

2) Can carry an adult female at high speeds for at least 15 minutes, and then move with abnormally fast reflexes.

 **Master 4** (can control, enhance, or create other people, animals or things. The things usually follow the commands of the master, or are a psychic projection):

1) Can force those whose shadow touches hers to mimic her motions. Does not affect the victims face or ability to speak. Can manipulate her shadow to move at her will to more easily connect with her opponents shadow. Tentatively called "Shadow Imitation".

2) Can summon three incorporeal clones of herself to distract and draw attention from her opponent.

 **Blaster** **2** (has some sort or ranged attack):

1) Able to spit a pointed stone projectile at high speed.

Tentatively called "Earth Spike Bullet".

 **Thinker 2** (Able to gain some form of mind power, be it a form of telepathy (but not direct telepathy), precognition, heightened awareness, or the supernatural ability to pick up a skill or move the body as if it were trained).

1) Enhanced combat awareness. Precise limits unknown.

 **Unclassified powers:**

1) Had pieces of paper that when placed on a persons forehead make them go unconscious. May or may not cause other side effects. When removed, the affected person wakes up, and the paper loses its efficacy, slowly crumbling after a few seconds. Possible striker.

2) Managed to somehow remove all of Bakuda's bombs from her jeep in a timely manner.

3) May have some kind of currently unknown fire related power. Cape name means fire shadow in Japanese, and we've already seen her use shadow based powers.

 **Profile comments:**

\- First seen Friday, April 15, 2011, working with the Undersiders to take down Bakuda in the storage facility in the docks of Brockton Bay. She then walked with them, only to appear a few minutes later emerging from a crowd of directly coerced ABB members, proceeded to pick up Bakuda, and run straight towards the PRT building.

\- May be a brand new recruit of the Undersiders, as she was first seen working with them and was seen friendly chatting and interacting with them afterwards. She was not however seen with them at the bank robbery yesterday, so she is either an extremely new recruit, or she didn't join them yesterday for other reasons.

\- She risked making herself a target to protect the PRT officers, but it is unknown whether that was to protect them or the foam dispensers she carried, which she ended up using to capture Lung.

\- Has a variety of powers that don't seem to fit a common theme. However, when she used her shadow imitation and earth spike bullet, she moved her hands quickly together in a variety of combinations and shouted the name of the power in Japanese as it activated. Since she shouted out "Art of the clone" before she made 3 illusions of herself, it is possible she also moved her hands at that time as well.

\- It is possible that without shouting out the name and the hand signs is required for the power to activate, or it may be that it just strengthens it. When she switched locations with the foam canister, she made hand signs, but didn't say anything. Don't assume she needs to do either for her powers to activate.

\- As was stated above, it is very probable that she has additional powers we don't know about. Her name means fire shadow, and as we have yet to see any fire related powers from her, it would be prudent to assume she has some.

\- There may be some sort of strain from overusing her power. After beating Lung, she collapsed and fell unconscious.

\- A very good strategist. Managed to think of a strategy to take down Lung, despite his power seeming far more powerful than hers. Also, she managed to slow down his fireballs sprays by periodically getting in front of Bakuda, who Lung seemed reluctant to shoot at. She also moved away enough times to make him content to only risk shooting when Bakuda was at risk. This may not have been purposeful, but if it was, it shows she might put others at risk to protect herself, or at least knows how to read other people.

\- During the fight, one of her scrolls caught fire. She panicked and threw it away, where it quickly burned and ended in a tiny explosion. This was the time she seemed most shaken during the fight.

\- Bakuda has been inspected following her capture by Hokage. She had minor fractures in both arms and both legs. Witnesses from when Bakuda was taken down claimed that it was Grue who broke her bones, however there is still a possibility that it was Hokage herself that did it. Either way, she took the injured women over miles while running, which could have worsened the injuries and caused Bakuda immense pain. While it was found out when the "sleep tag" was removed that Bakuda didn't remember being carried, it still showed a willingness to deal roughly with people and cause them more injury than is strictly necessary.

End of profile report.

* * *

I finished the report and looked up. I was trying to process what I had just read. Yet another cape in the Undersiders who had managed to take out Lung singlehandedly? Also, she was expected to be surprisingly young. Possibly no older than Vista, and she had taken down Bakuda and then Lung in her first appearance.

Add to that was the fact that her powers didn't seem all that impressive. Yes there were a lot of them, but no category had a rating higher than a 4. Wait, did he read that right? That was confusing.

We needed to get her in The Wards. A cape that versatile would be a great asset. Especially those knockout tags, if they were found to work on brutes. I was curious about something though.

"Are you sure she beat Lung without outside help? I can't imagine Lung being taken down by a cape with no power classification above a four." I asked.

Piggot snorted. "I saw the fight with Lung myself. It took place right outside the PRT headquarters, and I saw and heard the fight through the external cameras. She did take him down, through a series of very well timed and planned techniques and executions of her power. She looked very well trained, and not at all like a new cape. I wonder how she could have been training so long when she is so young, and still not have been noticed till now".

I thought about it. A cape this powerful and young, who had obviously been trained in her powers for a while, yet no one in the PRT knew who she was. It was possible that she had been around for a while, but the PRT had been kept out of the loop by spies and double agents in it's ranks?

Skitter had said that she couldn't reveal who the Undersiders were until she had found out the identity of their boss, who she thought might have the equivalent of moles in the PRT.

Also, the kidnapping yesterday had happened at the same time as the bank robbery, and while we were busy transporting highly confidential papers, meaning it was possible, actually _probable_ , now that he thought about it, that the Undersiders boss had planned the robbery to be a distraction for the kidnapping. It also explained why the Undersiders, who normally attack from the shadows or from an unexpected direction would pull such a public and risky job with a relatively low payoff. Their boss obviously hired teenagers, and was willing to kidnap 12 year olds, who's to say he hadn't kidnapped a young Japanese-American girl at a very young age when she first triggered, trained her privately, and then sent her out to go help his other cape team when they came across something they couldn't have dealt with on their own?

It made a terrible kind of sense. What's worse, if it were true, he didn't play by the unwritten rules. He had gone after a cape in their civilian identity and kidnapped them. He(or she) was dangerous. He needed to be taken down. There was no telling how many other capes he had kidnapped over the years. He could be amassing an army of capes and no one would know.

It was possible, though he hated to admit it, that Skitter might have been right that capturing the boss would be worth that much more than just the Undersiders. He needed that information now!

On the bright side, for some reason, she still wanted to be a hero, and was committed to getting the identity of her boss. He hadn't managed to scare her off with his, admittedly, rage filled berating session, and the fact that he said he wouldn't protect her if things went south.

Right now, she was potentially a lot more important than he'd thought her a day ago.

One more thing that weighed on his mind. If the Japanese-American girl had truly been kidnapped and trained by the Undersiders boss, it was possible she was sent out now to infiltrate the wards. If she joined, despite her skill, they would be getting a spy no one would know about except for him. If she didn't join, then the Protectorate would have been shown up by a new cape who, if she joined the Undersiders would make the Protectorate look even worse. Not only would they have been outshined by a brand new barely-a-teenager cape, but then they had managed to handle it badly enough to get her to go villain? He could see the headlines now.

No, there was no way things could ever go well, no matter how they appeared at first glance.

But he still hadn't answered Piggot's implicit question. He couldn't tell her his suspicions, he had promised Skitter that much at least. Also, it would raise questions concerning his capture of Lung, which he did _not_ want to discuss right now.

"Maybe her thinker power is stronger than we thought." I hedged.

Piggot looked at me with an expression that I _knew_ meant she knew I had another theory I wasn't telling her, but she let it go. "You will be asking her to join The Wards of course." She continued.

I felt my heart sink. I knew that if she joined she would likely be a spy, yet I had no way of letting director Piggot know that without revealing information which would implicate me in lying about who captured Lung. I would _not_ let that be what killed the reputation I had worked so long to build up. I kept trying to find a way out of this and I couldn't. I was glad that my mask covered up so much of my face. Swallowing a growing sense of dread, I responded.

"Of course. As soon as she is awake, coherent, and ready, I will have Carlos go to her and gently invite her in. We won't pressure her, but we will make sure she knows what the Wards can offer her."

Director Piggot looked at me one more time with an expression that indicated she _knew_ I was trying to pull one over on her, but she couldn't figure out how.

"Good. You're dismissed, Armsmaster."

Before I left I hesitated. "Are there any more of those sleep tags still intact?" I asked.

"You can call Hendricks team and ask. He was the one who went to the scene." Piggot replied.

Well, there was at least one lead I could follow, though I doubted it would turn up anything useful.

I walked out the door, and closed it behind me. What kind of mess was I getting myself into now?

* * *

As a reminder, the short descriptions of what kind of powerset that refers to in parenthesis in the profile report were not on the actual report. It is for the readers, and is not actually on the paper Armsmaster reads.

Also, I posted an explanation for Tattletale knowing what she did in chapter 2b, since someone asked about that, as well as a small possible spoiler explanation at the end of chapter 1.


	6. C5: Shikako: Ever thought of govt work?

**Here's chapter 5. I hope you like it. Shards and Shadows is now +20K words!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Shikako: Have you ever thought about government work? (Alt title: Uncle Sam wants YOU!)**

* * *

I woke up in a hospital bed, as per the usual. It was almost my second home by now. What had caused me to end up here this time? I sat up and looked around the room. This wasn't the usual hospital room. What had… oh right. I had somehow come to another world, without dying this time.

When I got up one of the doctors looked up at me and smiled. "Are you feeling ok?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Ok. That's great. I'm just going to call someone to lead you out of here." He pressed a button on the wall.

Two minutes later, a boy in a red costume appeared at the door. Hi. I'm Aegis, and you must be Hokage?"

I nodded.

"OK great. Now we can leave whenever you want to, but I'd like to tell you a bit about The Wards first, if you don't mind." He said.

The Wards? I thought to myself. Well, It wouldn't hurt to learn as much about this world as I could. I nodded.

"I don't know if you just triggered, or you've had your powers for a while, but everyone has some way they can improve. The Wards are a great way of learning how to make the most of your powers. Also, while the pay isn't the very best, it does pay pretty well. You also get a trust fund when you turn 18 and the ability to graduate straight to The Protectorate!"

Ok. Something about money, and joining another organization when I turned 18.

Considering how excited he sounded though, that was meant to be a big selling point.

"Another thing The Wards grant is a measure of safety. I know you probably already know this, but the average independent cape doesn't survive past six months." He continued.

'Wow, that's even shorter than the average ninja career.' I thought to myself. 'Well, not for solo ninja, but still, that's short'.

"With The Wards you would get access to your teammates tech, and the resources of the PRT. Especially if you are a tinker. They weren't very clear on that. Actually, what are you powers anyway? They didn't really tell me anything."

I frowned. Revealing my powers would not be a wise decision, and while I could probably reveal what I had already shown, I didn't know how much they had already figured out. On the other hand, not showing them anything could be construed as a sign of good faith.

"I can force others to copy me if my shadow touches theirs. " I said after thinking a moment.

"Really? Cool. Does it work on brutes?" he said.

"Brutes?" I asked without changing any expression.

"Capes with super strength or super toughness." He explained.

"Well, it worked on that dragon man last night." I replied calmly.

He startled, but only a tiny bit. "You fought Lung?" He let out.

"If that was the dragon man, yeah. Then I took him out while he was under my control." I replied, giving no indication that this was anything out of the normal.

I could tell he wanted to say something really badly by how he was twitching while trying not to let anyone know.

He quickly calmed himself and just whistled instead. That was some impressive control, for a non-ninja. "Well now I know why they want you in The Wards so badly. Not that we wouldn't be trying to get you in just as much if you hadn't fought him and survived."

I frowned. Most people trying to recruit you for something wouldn't openly admit they really wanted you. Why give up bargaining power when you didn't have to? There had to be some benefit to admitting it. Maybe it was to put me at ease so I would feel it was friendlier and be more likely to join?

"Well, that's another benefit of The Wards. You wouldn't have to fight monsters like him all the time, and if he ever came after you, you have a team to back you up." He continued.

That was a fair point. I laughed inwardly at the thought that they could keep me from fighting monsters, no matter what planning they had done beforehand, but I did need a team. If it hadn't been for my team, I would have died even more times than I already had, and I probably wouldn't have been brought back to life afterwards either.

Thinking about my team, I started to get wistful. I missed Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei. I wondered if I would ever see them ag- Of course I would. Getting distracted by thinking about that served no benefit now. Best to pay attention and try to pick up as much as I could to prepare myself here until I could find a way back.

Through all of this I had kept my face mostly impassive, showing no sign of the thoughts that had been going through my head.

I did need a team while I was here. I needed someone I could trust, at least at a basic level to watch my back. That was a good point. However, unlike most other people in this position, I had met another group.

While I still didn't know enough about them to really trust them, the Undersiders had seemed friendly, and their powers were familiar and useful. I wouldn't have to waste as much time figuring out how to combo my powers with theirs, and yet their powers weren't designed to be easily capable of holding me against my will if they ever tried to. I had no idea if the same would hold true for the Wards. I also suspected that at least Tattletale wanted me to join their group, if only to learn more about me. Though that wasn't necessarily a point in their favor. I liked keeping my secrets.

On the other hand, the Undersiders didn't have anyone on their team that would be able to help me figure out a way to get home. I would be able to try to study the Hiraishin kunai, and look for other potential routes home on my own, but Carlos suggested that The Wards had a lot of resources available to them. It was far more likely that if I joined them and stayed in good relations with them that I could find a way back home much sooner.

That posed another problem, in that in finding a way to get back home through The Wards, I might be opening a path between the worlds, which would likely lead to wars as neither world would simply let the other remain isolated and in (relative) peace, or even stick to peaceful trading. This would be especially true, with the level of technological discrepancy between the two I suspected existed.

Well, that road would have to be crossed when I got to it. For now, I had to take the best route to getting home if I could.

"What are the requirements to joining The Wards?" I interrupted him.

He seemed somewhat taken aback. But smiled at me.

"Well, you need to sign some forms, as well as have your parents or legal guardians sign them. You also need to list your powers for review to the PRT so they can figure out best how to make use of your abilities, and how to help you train with them. Then we just have to introduce you to the other Wards, wait a day or so for the paperwork to go through, do a public announcement announcing your joining, and you're a Ward! Oh, you do have to keep your grades up as well, but we have excellent tutors." He explained to me with a little too much enthusiasm.

Were people that reluctant to join the wards that he was that excited about a potential new recruit, or was it just that I had taken down Lung? Either way, I had noticed a few sudden and big problems about me getting into the wards.

First, I didn't have a parent or legal guardian in this world to sign the papers for me. Sure I could hedge into the image of mom or dad, and use a clone to mimic me, but they would easily be seen through, and wouldn't be able to sign the forms. Additionally, I couldn't do a physical shadow clone without passing out afterwards, and that would be a terrible way to reveal the deception. Chakra sensitivity had some advantages, like my chakra sensing abilities, but it also had some disadvantages. Fainting from the chakra feedback overload after a shadow clone disintegrated was one of the latter. If I went that route, I would have to be _very_ careful to not have the clone disappear before it was all over.

Another problem was that even if I didn't join The Wards, if they found out that I didn't have any living relatives, legal background, or any kind of record or background, than I would be in far more trouble than I was right now. I couldn't let that happen.

That wasn't even considering the other problem, school. Not only did I not want to waste that much time of each day in classes for things I would never use, I had learnt completely different material back in Konoha than what was likely taught here, and while my Nara genes would let me quickly catch up, that would still be unpleasant.

Not an insurmountable problem, but a problem nonetheless.

The wasted time was actually more worrying though. I needed to get back to Konoha ASAP. I didn't know what was happening back in Konoha, or if time was flowing at the same rate between the two worlds. I had to assume they did, and I was afraid what would happen if they suddenly found me missing.

I had been one of the few main pieces in too many crucial areas. I had been keeping Suna as good of an ally as it had been, and while I doubted Gaara would want to break off ties with Konoha, I doubted word of my disappearance would help matters. Not to mention the new truce with Kiri, which was still fragile enough to fall apart if the one from Konoha who had spearheaded it suddenly went missing.

This was in addition to whatever effect my disappearance would have on the people in the village. Sasuke, well, he was in ANBU now, and had other things in the village he loved. He wouldn't go rogue just because of me… I hoped. Naruto hopefully wouldn't find out until after I had gotten back, since he was still on his trip with Jiraya. Then there were the other ninja of the village. Sakura and Ino would be scared, but they would stay calm and trust in Tsunade to find me and set things right. The Nara clan would be very upset, losing the daughter of the head of their clan, mom and dad would …, Shikamaru…

Oh god. Shikamaru. What must he be thinking? If it was only for a day or so, I thought the fallout could be contained and he might, _might_ , be able to be kept at bay. If I was gone for longer than that… If Shikamaru had disappeared and I didn't know what had happened to him, what would I do?

I truly didn't want to think about it, and yet, what would I do if it took me too long to get home and when I finally did I found out he had gotten himself killed trying to get me back? No. No, I wouldn't think that. That was too horrible a thought to ever even consider. I would get back home before that ever happened regardless of what it took.

I thought about it. I would try to find the fastest way home, and right now The Wards were being presented to me as the best way to get home.

That didn't mean they were though. I wanted to do some more research of my options first, see what my alternatives were before coming to a decision. That meant that for now…

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm interested in joining The Wards now." I said.

I could sense his confusion. He thought he had had me, and then I had told him no. I could almost see the thoughts running through his head, as he tried to think of what he could have possibly said that had turned me away.

"If it's about the grades, you don't need to worry. As I said we have excellent tutors." He burst out.

I remained calm. "No, the grades aren't the problem, trust me. "The day making a grade would be a problem for a Nara, at least after a few days of catching up, would be the day the Nara clan stopped using shadow techniques or raising deer. Genes shouldn't work this directly or consistently, but Naras were almost uniformly extremely smart.

I could almost see him trying to think of what else could have been an issue. "Oh." He said. "This must be about the legal guardianship. I'm guessing you haven't told your parents about your powers yet? Don't worry, most parents would be glad to have their children join The Wards. That way they know they're safe and helping the world. If you need to, we can help you talk to them, convince them that you really do want to join and it would be the best thing for you." He guessed.

I was a kunoichi. I could hold onto my emotions with great ease, and could have responded in a calm, collected manner which would have given no hint as to how I was feeling on the inside. I could have, if I wanted to. But I didn't want to.

Instead, I burst into laughter, holding my hands around my side, and tears came out of my eyes. He looked bewildered. He couldn't understand what he had possibly just said that could have triggered such a reaction from me, as I had been completely calm and expressionless until now.

I probably shouldn't have done this to him, he hadn't deserved it. But he didn't even _think_ that I just wanted some more time to think about it. Also, the parallels…

Back home the propaganda was so great that a parent _not_ wanting their child to grow up to be a ninja was much rarer than the inverse. Here the propaganda didn't seem so bad, but the parents were being coerced enough that they let their children go away anyway. In a way it was sad. That was one of the parts about living in Konoha I had liked least, but at least there the child had the parents undying support if they went out to fight. It was considered a huge matter of pride to have a son or daughter be a ninja of the village. That wouldn't necessarily be the case here. I couldn't believe it, but I missed the more complete propaganda from back home.

Not to mention the parents not knowing part. Sure, there _was_ lots I had kept from my parents, but my powers? No. My parents had been the ones to _teach_ me my powers, or the shadow ones anyway. The fact that he thought they didn't know was hilarious, in addition to his misunderstanding my original statement.

After a minute, I picked myself up, and answered his specific point, as calmly as I had originally. "They know about my powers, and I doubt they will object to me joining The Wards."

Now he was really confused.

"But, then… why? You seemed interested just a few minutes ago, and then you just said no. Those are the only two reasons I can think of why you wouldn't want to join so suddenly. Can you at least give me a reason?" He pleaded with me.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I think you misunderstood. I just said that I don't want to join _yet_."

He looked like he finally understood, I was basically saying I needed time to think over my options, and might still join if I could be convinced. He just had to figure out how to convince me.

"Oh sorry. Now I can understand why you found that so funny." His body language made it clear he was embarrassed, even in his suit.

He thought for a minute and composed himself. "Would you like to go out on a sample patrol with us later today? You can see what its like to be a Ward, and that might help you make your decision." He said.

I smiled inwardly. This would give me a chance to see the Wards, and possibly ask another of them how much I could get from them in terms of finding a way back home. There had to be a way to get around the legal guardianship if I truly had to, and I would still get a chance to explore my other options. It would also give me a chance to learn about the area and people of note in it, without making too much of a commitment. If I decided against joining The Wards later, well there wasn't much he could do.

"Ok." I said.

"Great!" He replied. I just need to approve it with Armsmaster and we'll see you at 3:00 today, outside the building." He said.

"You need to get approval? How do I know I'll be invited if I show up back here at 3:00?" I asked.

"I said I need approval because he's sort of like my boss. However, The Wards have a lot more autonomy than you might think, so I can pretty much guarantee he'll approve. Really, he just needs to sign off for it so the higher ups know he knew about it." He explained.

'Really'. I thought dryly. However, it probably was true in this case. I had seen similar situations back home, and judging by Aegis's expression when I told him I had taken down Lung, it probably would be especially encouraged to make me happy and want to join up.

"Ok." I said. Then a thought struck me. "Can we eat before I go? I'm pretty hungry." I asked.

He slapped his helmet with his palm. "Of course," he said. Here the cafeteria is right this way." He led me through some hallways, until we were in front of two big steel doors. He pressed a button and a quiet alarm sounded in the room beyond.

He turned to me. "That's just to give warning to any of The Wards or Protectorate members inside that someone not with them or the PRT is coming in, and to put on their masks if they want to. It's a safety precaution." He explained.

Well, from what I could sense, there were two people with the pseudo-chakra inside, so it seemed there was a good reason for the warning. One with their power more concentrated in their brain, the other had their power a little more spread out. If my theory held, one would be male, and one would be female. Well, I would see when I got inside.

We waited a minute, then the doors opened and we went inside.

* * *

I still don't really like this chapter, and think others could have done a lot better with it. Oh well. I do like something I have added extra for the next chapter though.

Currently. chapter 6 and 7 are being edited, and chapter 8 keeps being edited and rewritten. I don't particularly like it yet.

Also, as a reminder, +20k words so far!


	7. C6:Shikako: Can we keep her?

What's this? An even chapter from Shikako's perspective? Madness! If it helps you cope, just consider this chapter 5 part B.

* * *

This is the last chapter of the first arc, "Making Friends".

* * *

Also, I just posted Chapter 5 yesterday so you might have missed it.

non-canon snippets at the end!

Background: **The Wards** are the government sponsored superheroes under age 18.

Hokage is (as far as they know) a 12-14 year old girl who just got powers, and may join them. She is about to have lunch with some of them. Aegis is the leader of the Wards, Triumph used to lead them till he turned 18. Vista is 13.

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Shikako's perspective: How much is that Hokage at the table? Alternative title: Can we keep her?**

* * *

I quickly saw the two people with pseudo-chakra sitting at a table nearby. An older man in gold lion helmet, and a gold skintight outfit, and a girl in a green and white striped shirt/skirt combo with a green visor and covered with body armor. She looked about a year or two younger than me, if I guessed correctly. Sure enough, she was also the person with the power completely in their brain, meaning it was the man who had his pseudo chakra a little more spread out in his body, seeming to flow through his upper chest and head. That theory was starting to gain credence.

There were also a lot of PRT soldiers sitting at other tables casually chatting and eating, though they were leaving the two costumed people alone.

"Hey, Triumph! Lowering yourself down to sit with us lowly Wards now that you've gone and made it big time? I thought you'd forgotten about us!" Aegis called out.

Triumph snorted. "It hasn't been that long Aegis, and you know that I still consider myself one of you. Who's that with you? A new cape?" He asked.

"Yeah, her name's Hokage. I'm going to ask her to go on a sample patrol with us this afternoon. She said she needed a little bit to think if she wanted to join the wards. Do you mind if we sit here while we eat?" Aegis asked.

He frowned and turned towards his companion. "Well Vista? I promised we could have a one on one talk if you wanted, so it's up to you."

Vista shook her head. "And miss the opportunity to get another female cape on the team? No its fine." She looked at me. "Hokage, right? You have no idea how glad I am to finally get another girl on the team."

This was unexpected. I knew she was only one or two years younger than me, but she _seemed_ so young, it kind of felt like it would be heartbreaking to let her down if I didn't join. Maybe this was part of her power?

I felt uncomfortable.

Aegis frowned and looked at her. "You know Shadow Stalker _is_ still on the team, right?"

Vista and Triumph just stared at him, until he sighed. "You know she doesn't really count right?" Vista asked him.

"If I wasn't a big responsible adult now, I would probably say something like, she's one of the reasons I'm glad I'm now in the Protectorate, but of course I am so I'll just say that we probably shouldn't get into this now." He tilted his head in my direction.

There was someone in the wards that no one seemed to like? That was not a good sign, but I could live with it if needed. I had lived with much worse than an unpleasant teammate.

Aegis got the hint and dropped it. "Come on Hokage, lets go get some food, and then we can continue this." Aegis said and started walking over to the food counter.

We ordered. I got a salad and some fish. Aegis got a burger.

We walked back. Aegis sat next to Triumph and I sat next to Vista. A mistake as it happens.

"So Hokage! Are you really going to join The Wards? Also, how old are you? I hate being the only cape still in middle school. If there was another cape at the school with me, that would be so cool!" Vista asked me. The hope in her voice was palpable. This was foul play! If Aegis hadn't known Vista was in here he couldn't have hoped for anyone better. Even if I intended to lie about my age to get more authority as soon as possible.

I used my ninja training to remain somewhat impassive, and answered. "I'm thinking about it. A chance to see what you go through might help though."

I then had a thought. "Wait, how many members are there in The Wards?" I asked.

I had a terrible sneaking suspicion. I had no idea where the thought had come from, but...

"There are currently six members in the wards. There's me, Vista, Kid Win, Clockblocker, Gallant, and last but not least, Shadow Stalker." Aegis answered me.

"That's up for debate." Vista mumbled about the last part of his statement. Aegis and Triumph glared at her but she didn't flinch.

What did he expect, making that comment around her when he knew how she felt? He had that coming.

Anyway, that meant if I joined… it would be a team of seven. I groaned internally. This must be the universes version of a joke, or its way of telling me that if I joined, this team would become as much of a trouble magnet as mine had been. The lucky sevens could be alive and well again. Great.

"So what's your power?" she asked me. Well that I could safely reveal, to a point.

"Before that, I have to ask about your mask. Without that small mouth-mask your face is almost completely exposed. Is there a reason you don't care if you're seen?" Triumph interrupted before I could respond.

Well, it would reveal another of my powers, but hopefully this would allow me to cast some suspicion as to my real identity.

"I think my disguise is a pretty good one." I said as I hedged into Tenten.

Vista finished her sip and faced me. "So you're a changer? That's a pretty good disguise actually. Making everyone think you're actually showing your face when you're not."

"Thanks, but I think I should get an actual mask. Keeping a different face for an extended period of time starts feeling weird after a bit." I lied.

"We should have a few extra simple masks in the back. I'll be sure to grab you one before we leave." Aegis responded.

"So you're a changer. Can you do anything else?" Vista asked.

"I actually have a few powers. My main one really is being able to force anyone whose shadow touches mine to do whatever I do." I responded.

"She used it to take down Lung last night." Aegis said before munching into his burger.

Why did I tell him that again? Vista and Triumph just looked at me. "What?" "That was you?" Vista and Triumph said at the same time.

I could sense heads turning our direction at the outburst. After a few seconds they turned away again. Even, or especially among soldiers, gossip is interesting.

Aegis and Vista were both looked at him instead of me now. "You mean Lung really did almost escape last night?" Aegis asked.

Triumph winced. "Yeah, but were not supposed to let anyone know. It would be a huge PR disaster if it were found out." He looked uncomfortable.

He then looked at me. "Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Did you also manage to beat and turn in Bakuda yesterday too? They're talking about it back in the Protectorate."

"Well, the Undersiders helped me take down Bakuda, but then I ran to turn her in. Then Lung jumped out, and some teleporter also started attacking, but a man in gold armor helped me take them down." I responded. I looked at Triumph and amended my statement. " Someone else in gold armor."

Aegis startled but had no other problem chewing his burger so it must have been a smaller reaction than I had thought. Vista spat out some of her milkshake. I imagined that behind her visor her eyes had widened. "You took out all three capes of the ABB on your first day as a cape?" She asked me. "Wow! Now I want you to join even more!"

"Wait." Triumph interrupted me. "Why were you working with the Undersiders at all? They're known criminals!"

Well, that was confirmation if nothing else. I had suspected as much when Tattletale had told me her theory of the "cops and robbers" that went on with capes here. Still they didn't seem like bad people, or the typical missing nin. Nor did they have crucial knowledge of the city that they could sell to another city which lowered their risk compared to a typical missing nin.

More likely they were just thrill seekers, or people who disagreed with the current system. They had reached out to me, and had tried to calm the crowd of forced ABB members instead of attacking them. True, they were greatly outnumbered, but they did seem to honestly have a basic morality.

I knew I was rationalizing, and had no real reason to expect anything good from them. And yet, for some reason, I didn't want to throw away the theory, no matter how rational I knew it would be to do so. They were the closest thing I had to familiarity here. Once again, a very stupid reason to give them any trust, but it was there nonetheless.

"I didn't know that at the time, Bakuda was throwing bombs everywhere and working with them was the best way to take her down before she caused any more damage." I explained calmly.

Triumph placed his elbow on the table before slowly retracting it. "Fine, but in the future try not to work with known villain groups. It sends a bad message to the public. "

"Well, other than during Endbringer attacks, but everyone has to work together to fight those monsters so that's different." Aegis clarified.

I really wanted to know what these Endbringers were that apparently were so scary. That's twice now they had been mentioned. Unfortunately, their obviously huge impression implied they would be something I was expected to already know about, and asking would only cause more suspicion to fall on me. I made a note to research them later.

"I'll try not to work with known villains unless it's to fight an Endbringer or my life is at stake." I said dryly. Triumph looked like he wanted to respond, but kept his mouth shut and instead just ate some of his ice cream.

"So, bringing the conversation back on track, after you fought Bakuda, did you then take down Lung and Oni Lee?" Vista asked me.

I sighed. "I told you, the man in the golden armor helped me take down the teleporter, Oni Lee I'm guessing. And yes, I did take down Lung." I replied.

Triumph looked at me with his held tilted. "You're an Asian cape in Brockton Bay and you didn't know who Oni Lee was?" He asked me.

Well this was not good. I had thought I was being careful, but I had apparently let something slip.

Aegis seemed to notice my discomfort somehow and said "This was not supposed to be an interrogation. This was meant to be an informal lunch talk. Vista why don't you tell Hokage about The Wards?"

"Well, I don't know if you have had enough time to notice, but most parahumans get really stir crazy if they don't use their power in combat settings, and The Wards are one of the few places you get a legitimate way to use them. Also, it's a real morale booster to go out in costume and see the admiration and respect everyone has for you." Vista said.

I could tell it meant a lot to her. She must not have gotten a lot of respect outside of her costumed identity. Unfortunately, I was just fine having people underestimate me as long as I could get the job done. Though I suppose the respect could be useful on occasion. It was useful to be able to go straight to Tsunade whenever I had an important issue. Maybe I could use some of that respect I would get if I joined to convince certain key people to help me find a way back home.

"It's also a way to meet friends, and it's a lot of fun. We learn all sorts of neat ways to use our powers!" Vista continued.

"Though it has been a bit frustrating. I've been held back from some of the more interesting missions just because of my age, despite the fact I've been in The Wards longer than anyone except for Aegis and Kid Win! It's so unfair!" Vista complained.

I had no idea if she was aware, but she was pretty much the living embodiment of adorableness. Her eagerness and openness were almost perfectly designed to make the mind think 'This is something to be protected' and 'she's so cute!' Judging from her outburst about being treated more tenderly because of her age, I had the impression it was completely involuntary, which made it all the more effective. Poor kid.

"So, you heard about my powers, can you tell me about yours?" I asked to break the mood.

"Oh! Sorry. I just assumed you knew!" She responded.

I sighed internally. So this was supposed to be common knowledge and I just revealed I was ignorant. Great. Though that did raise troubling concerns about what would be revealed about my powers if I joined.

"Its just I've been a ward so long, I thought my powers were pretty much common knowledge by now." She continued. Oh.

"I can warp space. Watch." She then tossed her napkin in the air, and through some strange path through twisted air it landed in the garbage can across the room.

Aegis than spoke up. "I'm just a standard Alexandria package. Super strength, super healing, super toughness and flight."

"I won't be working with you as directly as they will if you join The Wards, but for what its worth, I can make my voice produce shockwaves, and control the magnitude, size, and direction." Triumph then explained.

Interesting. These didn't have analogues to anyone I knew from my world.

"Ok. I think I'm ready to go now. What time should I be back here?" I asked.

Aegis got up. "Try to get back here by around 2:30. Do you have a phone number I could reach you at to confirm?" He asked.

I pulled out the phone Tattletale had given me and found my way to the number to call the phone. I told him.

"Ok great. I'll lead you out. It's kind of a maze out there." We started to leave.

"Wait! I should go with." Vista called out. "I can make it much faster." She explained.

Well, there go my plans to learn the layout of the place.

"Hey Aegis! Armsmasters in his workshop, so you know where to go to get his approval for the joint patrol later." Triumph called out.

"Thanks!" Aegis replied.

We walked out the way we had come and a few steps later that seemed to be much, much larger than they should have been, and also seemed to go around corners, we were at a door.

"We just have to sign out." He told me.

"Wait! I need to get Hokage a mask! Be right back!" Vista called, then was gone. A minute later she was back with a face mask that should stick and stay on surprisingly well. It looked more like a nice helmet than a simple face mask. It had chin and back of the head straps, padding, and a few other ways to stay on effectively if I was moving.

"Thanks Vista." I told her.

"Ok, now lets sign out." Aegis said.

Aegis and Vista looked into a circle in the wall.

"Aegis and Vista are escorting Hokage out of the hospital bay." Aegis spoke into the speaker.

"Acknowledged." The speaker replied.

They lead me out.

"Do you need to be dropped off anywhere?" Vista asked.

I thought about it.

"Do you know a place I could access the internet and do some research?" I asked.

"Sure. I can take you to the library. Will you need a pickup?" Vista offered.

"No, I should be fine." I replied.

"Ok, if you're sure. Can I give you the number to The Wards so you can call if you need to?" She asked.

"Ok." I said as I managed to fumble my way to the contacts list.

She gave me the number and with a few giant steps we were at the library.

"Bye. I look forward to seeing you at 2:30 for the patrol today." Vista told me, then was off with a giant step into twisted space.

I faced the library and was about to walk in when my phone started ringing.

Who had this number? Only The Wards and the Undersiders.

Sure enough it was Tattletale, and she seemed scared.

"Hokage? It's Skitter. She found some bugs you had on you when you appeared at the Bakuda fight. Everything was fine until this morning, when she discovered that overnight they had bored into her skin and were now living inside her. Without her having ordered them to. She's freaking out, and Skitter _NEVER_ freaks out about bugs. What can you tell me about these bugs? Does she need to worry?"

I was processing what she had said.

I had brought kikaichū with me, and with at least one female? Shino must have wanted to track me for some reason. I would be annoyed with him later. I needed to think how much I should reveal of their techniques.

Well, this was another world, and its not like I would be revealing any earth shatteringly secret information. On the other hand, did I really want to give access to kikaichū to someone I didn't have a good reason to trust yet? I still wasn't 100% sold on the idea of the Wards yet, and lying to them here could cause a lot of ill will later if I wanted to join them, or at least remain on friendly terms.

I was curious about something though.

"How did you know to call me now? I was with The Wards until just a few seconds ago." I asked.

"My power told me now was a good time to call. Now can you help her or not?" she asked impatiently.

Her power told her when to call me? That meant it had other aspects other than mind reading. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to lie to her. Fine. I would give them a show of good faith.

"Tell her not to worry. The kikaichū are parasitic insects that eat chakra, which seems to be very close to what gives you your powers. Living in a human host is their natural habitat, but they don't kill or harm their host. Tell Skitter she might be able to kill them all, but if she doesn't, they won't kill her in her sleep. She might not want to either. They will probably be of use to her." I explained.

I spoke pretty slowly to make sure I had been saying it correctly. I could sense Tattletale's impatience on the other end, but I wanted to be careful what I revealed.

"Thank you. She will be very glad to know that. Are there any adverse side effects? Like weaker bones or muscles?" She asked, much calmer now.

I thought of when Shino had come with us to go rescue Sasuke from the Sound four. He hadn't seemed overly slow then. "Not that I know of. If there were, I would likely have found out about it." I said. "Anything else you need?"

"No. Thank you. You have no idea how relieved she is to hear that. Is there anything you need? You've helped us and we would like to repay the favor if we can."

I thought about it. "I'm at the library. Where is the best place to do research?" I asked.

"The internet. Parahumans Online Board is a good place to do research on capes and some world events. For other information, check out these sites." She listed a few site names and things to look up.

"Ok. Thanks." I said.

"Keep us in mind if you need a favor."

"I will. Thanks." I said and hung up.

Now to learn a bit more about where I had landed.

* * *

NON–CANON SECTION:

 **1) Vista's Thoughts/Song.** Not intended to have romantic undertones:

 **Sing to "how much is that doggie in the window"**

How much is that Hokage at the table

The one with the scrolls at her waist

How much is that Hokage at the table

I hope she joins The Wards with haste

.

I've been on the wards for three years

The only other girl is mean

I do hope this new one is nicer

And that she joins us on the team

.

How much is that Hokage at the table

The one with the scrolls at her waist

How much is that Hokage at the table

I hope she joins The Wards with haste

.

I heard from Aegis she took down Lung

And though I have just learned her name

I am sure that in a few years

The whole world will know of our fame

.

I think she might be around my age

And won't make me feel like a fool

I wonder what she is thinking

And if I have met her at school

.

How much is that Hokage at the table

The one with the scrolls at her waist

How much is that Hokage at the table

I hope she joins The Wards with haste

.

 _(alternate verses:_

 _Alt verse 4:_

 _I heard from Aegis she took down Lung_

 _With shadows grown large from the light_

 _With more heros around here emerging,_

 _the villains will soon leave in fright._

 _alt verse 6:_

 _I don't want another Clockblocker_

 _I don't want a Stalker whose rude_

 _What I want is someone who is like me_

 _And she might join us very soon_

 _)_

2) Non-canon snippets

2A) "Before that, I have to ask about your mask. Without that small mouth-mask your face is almost completely exposed. Is there a reason you don't care if you're seen?" Triumph interrupted before I could respond.

Well, it would reveal another of my powers, but hopefully this would allow me to cast some suspicion as to my real identity.

"I think my disguise is a pretty good one." I said as I hedged into Tenten.

Everyone stares at me in shock. Suddenly alarms blare out, and from the loudspeakers comes "ALERT, ALERT, A STRANGER HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING. EVERYONE IS NOW UNDER MANDATORY MASTER/STRANGER PROTOCOLS. I REPEAT, A STRANGER HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING. EVERYONE IS NOW UNDER MASTER/STRANGER PROTOCOLS."

Then we hear the sound of a door slamming coming from the loudspeakers. "Clockblocker," we hear Armsmasters voice ring out. " You are on monitor duty for the next month. Do you understand me?"

It's silent for a moment. Then a boy's voice rings out "Still worth it!"

2B) Responses Shikako could have given about what her power was:

"I'm a master of all things 2-dimensional. This usually means working with shadows or paper. However in some cases, it can have much more potential. I mean a dragon who breathes fire and always charges at everything, there's not much depth to that is there? So… "

"I'm a jack of all trades. Good at everything, master of, well, you if you get in my shadow, but you get the idea."

* * *

Author's Note:

Mental-Shifter made me realize that Shikako wouldn't have given up as much information as she did. I put the memory of Shino running in her thoughts instead of saying out loud that a friend of hers used bugs to fight and wasn't slowed down.

edit 2: I forgot about Gallant. How could I forget Gallant? I'm replacing Browbeat with him. Browbeat's back to being an independent.

Also, I can't remember a time when Shikako actually interacted with Shino in a combat setting so far, so this is remaining until I can fix it. Sorry.

I'm trying to build up a backlog of a few chapters so I know what I want to happen, and can foreshadow properly. I think its probably better to wait a week or two and then release a few chapters that actually are semi-edited and mesh well than to release them when I finish writing them then realize that my other chapters contradict them later or I've written at a subpar level, or written myself into a corner.

Yes, I know Vista isn't _that_ excited about other female capes or generally bubbly in canon, but she really does want a new female cape on the team, and I just made her especially bubbly and cheerful that day, because it was fun. She's also happy that she gets to talk with Triumph, (she goes back to talk with him at the end), and is having a milkshake,  and is in recruitment mode.


	8. C7:Chiyo: Who doesn't like worms?

edit: Major Changes: 1)There was no third cape besides Lung and Oni Lee, Chiyo got her powers when Oni Lee and Lung were getting Bakuda (more recently). Her trigger event has been slightly changed. She is now 20 years old initially (23 by story start) instead of 17. THE original chapter (mostly, the third cape is included) is included on SV, but not here to save space.

1) **WARNING** : This chapter is a lot darker than the previous chapters (though still not really close to Worm, and still rated T). This chapter also introduces an OC * **Krackathoom** *.

2) The reason for the OC: I hadn't meant for Oni Lee to get captured, and this was a way to sort of introduce him back into the story. Also, I realized that any of the current major threats would be handled by The Protectorate. There was no reasonable way (I could think of) for The Wards (or Shikako) to find out about/confront one of the known major criminal elements in the area without The Protectorate foreseeing it and intervening ahead of time (then again, it may be that I'm just not creative enough to find a way, or willing to spend the time thinking up one). At this point, its just because the stories already progressed from here.

3) As usual, I have replaced or removed many of the curse words the characters would say if this was trying to hold to cannon. This may be especially obvious this chapter.

* * *

4) This is the start of a new arc, "Conflict Emerges". The first six chapters were the first arc, "Making Friends". This arc will be darker than the first arc.

* * *

 **chapter 7: Chiyo: Who Doesn't Like Worms?**

* * *

For the first 20 years of my life, I did whatever I could to be surrounded by people. Not because I'm social. Honestly? I hate people. With a passion. Why did I try to fit into as many groups as possible then? Simple. I was a Japanese-American girl in the heart of Neo-Nazi America, Brockton Bay. You'd think that since we had been allies in WWII they would consider us one of them. Nope. They considered us just another inferior race to beat down and purge. The - morons.

It was simple common sense to do what I did. Travel alone at night? Get attacked. Travel in a group? You have a chance of getting through the night unharmed. I learned Karate, and Akido in my free time, but against any of the many capes the Empire had access to? I was pretty much just a slightly stronger bug.

I hated the Nazi's with a passion, but there wasn't much I could do, so I tried to fit in groups, kept my head down, (How dare they reduce me to this!) and managed to survive.

Then, one day some raging idiot who called himself Lung appeared and said he was going to create an "Asian Gang" with the same stupid name as a second rate gang from Los Angelos. It was honestly one of the stupidest ideas I had ever heard of. An "Asian" gang? I was Japanese. I had a proud culture, even though Japan wasn't doing so well since Leviathan sank Kyushu. I was not just a simple "Asian".

On the other hand, a group of people was harder to attack than an individual, and if this went through, I wouldn't have to hide anymore. I could be top of the pack where I belonged.

As if to accentuate how unlikely it was for anything good to happen, Lung only had one other cape with him, Oni Lee, his right hand man. Oni Lee was capable of teleporting a short distance away, but he would have an autonomous clone where he had been that was capable of attacking before it turned to dust in a few seconds. He liked to carry grenades with him that he could have his clone detonate while he kept the original with a still intact grenade. He had a sense of authority, and the two of them, despite being vastly outnumbered somehow managed to make their promise a reality.

Empire Eighty Eight tried to stop us from getting a hold on the city (of course I joined as soon as I could. I had to take the chance it could go somewhere) but despite their much larger roster of capes, we held our own and carved our own space in Brockton Bay. Lung may have been an idiot with a stupid as mud philosophy about uniting all "Asians" but he was certainly powerful.

I finally didn't have to worry when I went to school knowing there were people to stick up for me. I could hold my head up, and even beat on others without fear of repercussions. I was powerful, and I loved it. I recruited new members to the Asian Bad Boyz, and slowly made my way up the ranks. I was considered one of the top "normals" not to mess with. Though I couldn't fight most capes, I could take down almost anyone else, male or female. I was one of the ones sent out to "teach some sense" to those who tried to steal from us, as well as made sure people paid the fee for entering our territory and also occasionally helped train some of our recruits how to fight more efficiently in groups, at a very basic level.

I frequently interacted with the capes, and still managed to survive. I soon started to notice something. First, I had gotten to see Oni Lee without his mask on and he looked good, like really good. Second, he seemed manipulatable. If I played my cards right, I might be able to hook him and win myself a personal cape who would follow orders as long as they didn't go against Lung. I could live with that. I just had to be careful and bide my time till I could strike.

* * *

A group of Neo-Nazis had been attacking Asian citizens in ABB territory. Without cape backup, the idiots. I smiled to myself as I lead a group of ABB members to explain to them why this was a bad idea. We'd been here for almost three years. If they didn't know by now not to enter our territory, it was their own fault. Lung and Oni Lee were gone to recruit some new cape in New York, but we didn't need Lung or Oni Lee to deal with their normal members.

"Hey idiots, this is ABB territory. You come here for your beating?" I called out. There were about ten of them. We only had eleven, but I had worked with some of them before, and we had some synergy. The E88 goons also didn't have any capes with them and looked pretty new. This would be a one sided beatdown.

"Yeah? Just try it! What can a bunch of second-rates like you do to stop us?"

Entering our territory and then insulting us? They were going down. Hard.

"Get them!" I shouted.

We attacked. They were better than I had expected, but we were far more skilled with our weapons. It didn't last long. Yong went down, but the rest of us were still standing, and none of the Nazis were. I grabbed the leader, who was still conscious.

"What's so funny?" I hissed at him.

He smiled, as he coughed blood on my shirt. "You thought we came alone." He said.

I whacked the man to the side with my bat and he fell unconscious. I looked up and noticed a group of Caucasian males turning into the street ahead of us. Looking back the other way, I saw more coming from that end. We were boxed in. I cursed. These also looked much stronger than the goons we had just taken down.

"Don't let them get you down. Fight and try to make a break for it!" I called out. Against this many strong E88 members, it was the only logical course of action.

The Caucasians just grinned at us and ran forward.

We fought hard. I got out my gun and managed to shoot one before they closed in on us and started attacking on their own. I redirected one of their bats while kicking another and pivoting in between them to try and get to a better angle. I kicked the first's knees out before he could react and redirected a third's bat, continuing the motion to elbow the second attacker hard in his side as he tried to get back up.

I tried to jump in the opening I had created to get some distance when I felt a sharp pain in my side. Ignoring it through sheer adrenaline I shot the 3rd attacker in the chest. I felt another bullet graze my right leg and I aimed and fired my gun at the person who had shot me right before my gun was kicked out of my hands by a 5th attacker and I was stomped on hard. I felt at least one rib crack, but I couldn't let myself lose here. I tried to look up, but had my head pushed down against the ground. Luckily, the impact wasn't too hard, but I was effectively trapped.

"Hey guys! Looks like I was right! It is Oni Lee's girl." The one who was currently pinning my chest, right arm and right leg said. " I wonder how Oni Lee will like finding out he lost his girl while on vacation? Maybe he'll regret going, maybe he won't."

No. This couldn't happen. I would not go down like this. I was not this person. I was strong! I was not the person who got pushed down, I was the one that pushed. I would not go down this way! Suddenly I thought I saw something far too vast for my mind to comprehend.

When I woke up I was staring down at an empty space with some of the E88 members around me crying out asking where I had gone. I was right here morons. I punched the one nearest to me right in the nose and he fell down. Something was wrong though. My arm and fist were Caucasian, not Japanese, and I felt wrong somehow. The others yelled at me asking what was going on. I grimaced. I was one of "them"? This was a pretty disgusting power. On the other hand, if it let me beat them up, well, it would have to do. I punched another one, and then the rest realized something was wrong and rushed me.

"She must be a cape! She possessed Eddie. Stop him!" One of them yelled.

I cursed inwardly. If I was going to be a cape, I didn't want to be discovered this soon. I would have to try to kill them all to make them quiet. Why had I just attacked like that and blew my disguise?

Unfortunately, while "Eddie" was strong, he wasn't invincible, and I wasn't used to moving his body the correct way. I fell and was getting beaten. I felt some things slither out of my leg and go towards some of the E88 members. One reached the nearest member, bit and… suddenly I was looking down as someone managed to shoot "Eddie" in the head and he died.

One of the members cursed. Apparently Eddie had been his best friend and he was raging at the one who had fired the shot.

The shooter in question was trying to calm him down by saying that he had to and that they should be celebrating that they managed to take down an ABB cape.

Apparently I was a body snatcher. This was a much cooler power than I had first thought.

I wondered how I activated the body snatching. I remember something slithering. And… There were now five tiny snakes in my hands that had crawled up from my wrists. I could see through their eyes if I concentrated, and I knew that if one of them got inside someone, I could body hop to them. They were each pieces of me, I just had to choose which one would be the dominant one.

I looked around quickly. All the ABB members I had brought with me were either unconscious or dead, but they had each managed to take at least one E88 member with him or her. There were only 5 remaining E88 thugs left standing including me. Luckily, this body also had a gun. I sent my worms out to my remaining enemies. Once they had gotten on point. I raised my gun and shot the two who were arguing before they could realize what had happened.

"What?" the remaining two cried out, fear on their faces. One tried to run away. The one who I had elbowed in the side and punched in the nose, who had also been the one to pin my left hand and leg before. I tossed my gun away, bit the one who was rushing me with a knife with my worm. Suddenly I was stabbing one of them with a knife in the heart.

I then raced to the gun I had thrown down, and chased down the runner. I was able to sense him through my worm that was still stuck in his leg. He was still slow from his injuries, while the one I was possessing had somehow been the only one in the fight who hadn't gotten any major injuries. He started to cry out for help and I shot him in the head at close range before he could finish his first word.

I walked back to the scene of the carnage, and made sure that every E88 member who was down was also dead.

I checked for a pulse in the members of my "team". Five of them were still alive, though Daichi wouldn't be for much longer.

I took a minute to think about my power. I wondered if I could return to my original body, or I would forever be stuck living in the bodies of others. I should check that. I didn't want to live in the body of this filth any longer than I had to.

I grabbed Hanako, the least damaged person from my group, and picked up some rope off of Chang, and two guns from the scene. I brought us to a nearby alley and softly dumped Hanako on the ground and the guns a distance away, next to a ready worm. Best to have an emergency body available if things went wrong.

I tied my arms to a fire escape, and tried to recreate myself through the free worm. I felt resistance, then I pushed through it and I was staring at Hanako and the E88 thug I had just been possessing. I also felt a huge pain in my side and my leg. Apparently body swapping hadn't healed me.

The E88 thug cursed and screamed asking how he was suddenly tied to a fire escape in the middle of an alley and saying all the things he would do to me once he got free. He must have guessed my power had done that to him. I shot him and he went quiet. Hanako was starting to awaken. I put one of the guns next to her right hand and walked off. Only to collapse in a nearby ally to recover.

I would have to be careful in the future to have a living worm always outside of my currently possessed body, in case the body was killed, preferably next to or in a possible host. I still wasn't sure what would happen if the body I was possessing was killed while I was possessing it, but I knew I would die if that happened when all my worms were dead as well. I also now suspected that it took longer to reform my original body than to possess a new one, and I didn't know how that would play out if my host body died while I was still in it. I should also be careful not to let my original body take too much damage if I could help it.

Either way this was an awesome power. I smiled to myself. I couldn't let Lung find out about it of course. He would force me to obey him even more strictly, or he might suspect I could possess capes and wouldn't want me to live as I might take him over. Now there was a thought! I needed to learn if I could permanently control capes before I tried to take over Lung. The only problem is I would have to end it with Oni Lee, unless I managed to convince him Lung was still Lung.

Hmm. Maybe there was another cape I should possess? Or, no, I should still probably take over Lung, but not yet. Once I took over Lung, leaving would be a death sentence as he would kill me as soon as he got free. I should enjoy my power while I could.

* * *

I had had my power for three days and had still yet to use it on a cape. Of course I had used it on some… brave Nazis who dared enter our turf just because Lung and Oni Lee were gone. They hadn't been able to let word of a new cape on the scene out after I was done with them.

There was also the fact that few other non-capes had as much power as I did or had as good muscle memory. Being able to be someone else wasn't that great when you were already the best person to be, and you lost most of your skills in the process.

On the bright side, people didn't seem to realize what had happened when I was controlling them, which had let me play a lot of practical jokes, but I still hadn't found a good opportunity to see if I could control a cape yet. I did get the feeling that if I just stopped using it, it would eventually drive me insane. I really hoped it wouldn't end in a situation where I would become a pliable idiot if I used my power, and an insane wreck if I didn't.

* * *

I was going home when I was attacked (I knew I shouldn't have gone out alone). I turned around and saw someone jumping to attack me. He was strong, parahuman strong, even if that freakish jaw wasn't already an indication he was a cape. We wrestled for half a second as he tried to bite me and my worm bit him just as he was about to close his jaws.

While in his body, I realized something. I felt a lot stronger than I should. I also felt a huge hunger. I went over and bit part of the wall out. After eating it, I spit up a small amount of crystal in the shape of a dagger, similar to the one in my right hand.

I laughed. I had managed to body snatch a cape, and I could use his power. At least this answered that question. Too bad his power was incredibly lame. I must have eaten at least 20 pounds of concrete for less than 2 pounds of crystal? What kind of use was that in a battle? Also, he was really fat and ugly. I was not keeping this body if I could help it.

Also, had he thought he could attack ABB members in our own territory? I had to correct his misconception.

I knew that despite my current strength, I couldn't take a bullet. I ate part of another wall, and stuck my hands to the wall in crystal handcuffs I spat out. I started to feel my power draining from me. I quickly sent a worm out and appeared behind him, though it took much longer than usual to make the switch. Before he could escape I shot him in the head. I picked up the crystal daggers and the handcuffs on the way out of the ally. If the handcuffs I had created had been able to sap a capes power, perhaps the daggers were more useful than they appeared at first glance.

Also, I had learned I could possess a cape. Now I just had to think of a way to test if I could hold onto a capes power for an extended period, and then? Possibilities…

* * *

They arrived back with the new cape two days later.

When I first saw Bakuda I instantly hated her. She was stuck up, arrogant, in charge because she was an announced cape, and made sure everyone knew it. That was my role, but I was still under her because she was stupid enough to admit she was a cape and I wasn't going to.

She often made snide comments to me about how I only had power and authority because I had hoodwinked Oni Lee and that I wasn't really worth anything. I grit my teeth and bared it, but inwardly I was changing my plans to make sure she suffered. Horribly.

First, though, I would see what she was capable of. If she failed Lung naturally she would suffer just as bad a fate as I could give her. If she succeeded, well, then I could just make it seem that she had defected. The results would be the same.

Then she started convincing Lung to put bombs in people's heads to force them to work for us. I didn't like this. This would severely limit the number of safe bodies I could control. Any one of them could have a bomb planted that Bakuda could blow up to kill me with them. Not to mention, it would force us to work with racist Nazis and cowards who didn't want to fight in the first place. You could beat on people like that but forcing them to fight, or mess with them in the ways that Bakuda's bombs did? That just wasn't natural, and I had a very shaky line around that point.

I spoke out against Bakuda, citing the large number of recruits I had already managed to bring in, and arguing for his stupid Asian gang philosophy that had somehow grown on me in time. We were going to work with some racists?

Apparently, Lung agreed with me, since he forbade Bakuda from going through with it, and I wasn't a pile of cinders on the floor. Bakuda glared at me, but I stood my ground.

I walked home with Lee that night.

* * *

I practiced using my power on Lee while he slept to see how controlling a capes body for hour long periods would affect me. It turned out, it didn't really, other than cause an increased urge to use his powers, which I refused to do. Over the years I had seen Lee get stupider and more pliable, and from what I had managed to get out of him, it was likely his power that was causing the decline. I was afraid that it might be doing that to me, as it was likely a second-generation version of his power. I was not going to guarantee that it affected my mind by using his power directly.

I had suggested he stop using it so much once, but he had snarled at me that using the power let him help Lung and never to bring it up again. So no, I was not going to use his power however much it wanted to be used.

Now I just had to think of a way to make the most of my abilities. Obviously, I had to take control of a powerful cape, or else it would be a step down. I might even be able to take a weak cape down on my own with my martial arts skills and weaponry, and I already had a high position in the ABB and was one of the strongest and most skilled non-capes around. Really the only way to go up, was to go way up.

* * *

I had been at my position near the top of the ABB (but not at the top with the capes) for a long while now. I had tested the crystal daggers, and realized they were a lot more than I had first thought. They seemed to be able to cut through almost anything with extreme ease, concrete, skin, and kevlar body armor, a few of the things I had tested it against. They also seemed to be the key to opening the power sealing handcuffs. I sometimes wished I had made some more weapons and tools like these before I had offed the cape, but too late now. I guessed that the cape had also been able to change what features his crystal had, since I had managed to stick the open handcuffs to the wall for long enough to draw my gun and shoot him.

It had been two and a half weeks since Bakuda had been recruited. I was getting sick of her. She still hadn't done anything to make Lung too angry at her, but I could wait a little longer. I decided to take a night off from patrol and just relax at home. Lung's casino had been robbed yesterday by a bunch of brats who called themselves the Undersiders. Lung was furious at them. I chuckled to myself thinking about what was going to happen to them when he caught them as I ate some popcorn and watched some Earth Aleph anime.

* * *

I woke up to Lee staring at me beside my bed. What did he need this time? He hadn't been there when I went to sleep.

He explained to me that Lung had been captured by Armsmaster last night when he went to go fight the Undersiders, and that we needed a plan to get him back.

What? There was no way that could have been right. If the Protectorate could have taken down Lung, they wouldn't have taken three years to do it. There had to be more to this.

I was about to tell him this, but I saw how scared he was. He really had lost a lot of his independence in the last few years, and Lung and I were pretty much all he had left as anchors to what he used to be. He wasn't completely gone, but I knew this would be devastating to him. Losing one of us must be crushing him. The one he cared more about, I thought wryly before dismissing the thought. "Don't worry, we'll get him back." I reassured him.

We sent out the word to the other higher ups in the ABB to meet at the storage units at 1pm to discuss how to get Lung back and make the Protectorate pay for capturing Lung.

Of course Bakuda was there, and since she was an open cape she had the highest authority there other than Lee, despite how new she was. She planned to create a bombing run in major parts of the city to distract The Protectorate while Lee busted Lung out. It wasn't a bad plan, though since Lung wasn't around to stop her she was going to go ahead and implant bombs into unwilling recruits heads to force them to help us.

Meanwhile Bakuda would create bombs that the rest of us could use to create the distraction while she was also implanting the bombs into our " new members' " heads.

I kept my head down and organized some of our troops for the attack, while thinking how I could neutralize Bakuda. I didn't feel comfortable around her. However, this plan gave me a golden opportunity. Bakuda had to make bombs that the other ABB members could use, and Lee could break Lung out on his own. That meant that during the actual breakout Bakuda wasn't needed. I could take her out right before the breakout and no one need ever know what had actually happened to her.

* * *

We were going to break Lung out today, if everything went according to plan. This was my chance to take out Bakuda. Lee was off studying the plans our spies had managed to get us about the inside of the protectorate base so he could rescue Lung. This was fine with me. I didn't want him to see me off Bakuda, he might get upset.

I approached Bakuda's workshop.

Unfortunately, it seemed I had miscalculated. "You know," she told me "You've been a big pain in my backside for a while now, and, would you look at that? It seems like there isn't any Lung or Oni Lee around to protect your sorry butt." And with that she lifted up a grenade and threw it at me. I couldn't dodge in time, and there was no one close enough for me to possess. I managed to throw three of my worms to the side before it hit me. I feared the worst. However, all that happened was that I was trapped in a small box that had appeared around me.

"You think you're so smart, don't you?" She asked me. "Oh, look at me. I'm a cape's girlfriend and I've been here a long time. I must be untouchable, and I don't need to worry about that new cape. She's new and won't last. Well guess what? You aren't untouchable, and I'm here to stay."

"Though considering how much a pain in my backside you've been, I figure it would be a waste to just off you here. No, I figure I leave you here in this soundproof little box to think about all the ways you've offended me over the last month and come to regret it. Then, after you've starved for a day or so, I'll finally show you mercy and throw one of my other bombs at you to end your suffering. Don't worry, I'll spend the day thinking about which one to choose. It would be rude of me to not give you the very best."

She smirked at me. "Oh and you can try to scream if you want, the field is soundproof. No one will hear you, or see you for that matter, except me." She pointed to her goggles, then turned her back and walked out before I could navigate one of my worms to her. "Enjoy your stay." She called out.

NO! I hadn't ever really managed to explore my power, I couldn't die like this! I yelled, but no one came to investigate the noise. Think. How could I get out of this? I took out one of my special daggers and tried to cut through the makeshift walls.

Unfortunately, instead of cutting through the wall, I just found it harder and harder to press forward with the dagger the farther out I got. It seemed I was in a repulsor field, not an actual box, so the daggers, for all their cutting power, were useless. Even the floor, though it seemed pretty stable, was actually just a modified repulsor field.

My only hope now was that someone would somehow go out this way and one of my remaining Worms could bite them and possess them. Unfortunately, I couldn't go directly from my original body to another Worm without possessing a body in between. And yet, the only thing this way was Bakuda's workshop and none of the ABB members would ever risk her wrath by going here (well other than me). I despaired. I didn't know how I would ever get out of this.

* * *

I had been stuck here for an entire day. I was starving and extremely dehydrated, not to mention that the repulsor field was most definitely not made to make sleeping or lying down easy.

I was basically waiting for the end. The odds of anyone coming other than Bakuda was almost none. I had lost what little hope I had had. I had also found out that I couldn't send my worms out farther than about 20 or so feet from my current location, so I couldn't go off in search of a victim to switch to.

Then I caught something from one of my worms on the outside. There were people running this way! I got my worms into position, and one of them managed to stick to the side of one of their sneakers and crawl up onto their leg. I bit and then I was suddenly running outside of the box. I then turned and ran for the stock of water bottles. The other 2 ABB members turned and yelled at me asking me what I was doing. I didn't care at this point. I needed water and solid ground. I got to the water and sent out a worm behind the supplies. I willed myself to be there while the other two ABB members caught up to me. I opened up the water and drank, before I vomited it out.

I didn't think that going 26 or so hours without food or water should damage your body this badly, but then again, I hadn't exactly been in the best environment to encourage a healthy body during that time.

The others looked tense until they realized who I was. "What are you doing here Hibiki? How did you know she was here?"

"What do you mean? I was with you guys running to get some weapons while I still could when all of a sudden I was here staring at her vomit up water." Hibiki replied, a little shaken.

They stared at me. "You're a cape?" The third asked me. " Why weren't you helping us out there? The whole plan fell to pieces! Not only did we fail to get Lung out, but Oni Lee and Bakuda got captured!"

"What?" I coughed out.

"Some new Asian cape appeared and stopped Bakuda with the Undersiders, then went and stopped Lung and Oni Lee from escaping." He explained. Then looked at me suspiciously. Then shook his head. "At least it wasn't you. I got a look from the crowd of Bakuda's "new recruits". Blending in with them was how I managed to get away."

That explained why they had come back. If Bakuda was out, she couldn't go after them. And since she had made special bombs they could use, it made sense they would try to get their hands on them while they could.

"Wait, you got a look at her face?" I asked, while getting some more water that was actually staying down.

"Only part of her face, that wasn't covered, and her hair. It's still enough to say it wasn't you." Ah. "But why weren't you there, especially if you're a cape?" He continued.

"Ask Bakuda." I muttered. "Apparently she thought I was stepping in on her territory, and decided to take me out of the picture. Well, jokes on her now. If she, Lung and Oni Lee are all out, then I guess that makes me the cape in charge."

The boy I had controlled looked upset. "You think just because we lost Lung, Oni Lee and Bakuda, we'll just follow you now?" He argued.

"Dude, I think she's Oni Lee's girl!" The one on the left said.

I nodded. "I've already been basically leading most of the teams and coming up with our strategies, and right now I'm the only cape the ABB has left. If you really want to go out on your own and try to survive against the Empire without a cape on your side, go ahead. Otherwise, shut up and listen."

The other two members grinned at me and one punched the complainer in the stomach. "Ready to serve ma'am. So what's our plan of attack?"

I grinned through my pain. "First we need to keep the fact that I'm a cape a secret. My power is much more effective if no one knows I have it."

"How do we even know you're a cape? You could just be trying to seize power!" Hibiki claimed. I possessed him and put hius knife up to his throat before switching back.

"I am a cape Hibiki, and if you won't follow, you're a liability and will need to be eliminated. Any questions?"

"no" he got out quietly.

"What was that?" I said to him.

"No Ma'am." he said stronger.

"Good." I said.

"So as I was saying, first we need to keep the fact that the ABB still has a cape secret. If we're smart, we don't have to reveal where the new threat is coming from, which can only help us. If it does get out, we need to make it unclear who is the cape and what their powers actually are. Second, we need to gather our resources, including what remains of Bakuda's bombs."

"One of you will have to volunteer to act as the cape, in case it's discovered it was an ABB cape. I'll try to let you keep your memories if and when I'm in control, and when I'm not, you'll get all the respect of being the ABB's new cape leader. Who's up for it?"

None of them responded. "The one who volunteers gets power and respect, and if none of you do it, you're all worthless to me."

The third one shakily volunteered. Good.

"Hibiki, a warning, if you reveal my secret, you will be as good as dead. I put a piece of my power in you. Any time I want, I can possess you and slit your throat. Try to betray me and it will be the last mistake you ever do."

He looked pale but nodded at me.

"Finally, third? We've been greatly weakened losing three of our capes. I think it's time for the Empire and Protectorate to see what it's like to lose some of their capes too. And while we're at it, maybe I should go and say thanks to that new cape for taking Bakuda out for me, and then tell her why she shouldn't have stopped Oni Lee."

I had almost died while being cautious with my power. True, it still might make me go insane or stupid, but what was life without some risk? I was going to have to use my power more aggressively from now on, maybe in the same way I had used it when I had first gotten it. There were a lot of ways my power could be used, if I truly tried to make the most of it's potential. No, from now on, Nematomorpha was going to make her mark on the city.

"So, here's what we're going to do…"

* * *

Author's notes

1) Please don't be mad for adding in an OC. It is technically listed on the story (though it was mostly for Shikako).

2) Once again, about Shikako joining The Wards, I have ideas about that. Please don't jump to any conclusions until we at least make it to Sunday/Monday in-story (it's currently Saturday). You may be surprised (I really hope I can find a way to flow through the planned events to get to where I want the story to be at that point).

3) I added two alternate verses to the "how much is that Hokage at the table" song from the previous chapter to better match with "How much is that Doggie in the window?"

4) I named her Nematomorpha as a Japanese mind controlling worm. I was originally going to go with Hookworm or Tochukaso, but hookworms don't use mind control, and Touchukaso is a fungus (not a worm) and it can be used for medicine. Chiyo wouldn't choose a name that could have medical applications. For more info on Tochukaso, look up what happens when a Paras evolves into a Parasect (Pokemon). It's horrifying.

5) To clarify, the handcuffs were open, and stuck to the wall which effectively acted as the top half of the handcuffs. This is what allowed her to use her power at all. The handcuffs do a very good job of sealing a capes power if they are closed. The cape was much more powerful and useful than she realized.

6) Also, as a reminder, I have mirrored this on SV. If you have more than one question/comment per chapter, you can also ask there, though reviews are still nice.


	9. C8: Colin: Spying on the Spy

Here's an interlude Chapter 8!

 _(This chapter can be skipped without missing much of the story , but it does provide more information about Armsmaster and his views on Shikako.)_

In commemoration of Groundhog's day (patron holiday of the Nara clan/Holiday of shadows),

 **There will be two chapters today**.

This will eat up my backlog, but chapter 8 and 9 are both reasonably good now! (I skipped the bad and slow library scene).

Let me know what you think I did well, or what I could have improved on.

* * *

 **OPTIONAL Chapter 8: Colin: Spying on the spy**

* * *

When I sent Carlos off to try to recruit Hokage, I also attached a very small voice recorder to the underside of his costume. There were cameras in the hospital room, but they were blurry and the voice recording quality was low. I wanted to hear _exactly_ how the conversation went.

It might not be technically legal, since she wasn't being interrogated and wasn't being informed, but I needed to know as much about Hokage as possible if she joined the Wards, and the best time would be right after she woke up and was still off her guard. She likely didn't know about the lie detector I had recently built into my helm. The best part of it was that it also worked on recorded voices. So she was more likely to slip up if she was hiding something.

Of course when I called Hendrick, I learned that all the tags had all disintegrated about an hour or so after they had captured the ABB members. So I didn't get anymore information about them. Hopefully this recording would be more revealing about the mysterious new cape.

My first thought was that she was purposefully hiding her true abilities. That was not a good point to start on.

My second thought was surprise at her apparent lack of knowledge. She didn't seem to know basic things most people in Brockton Bay knew about, including the PRT cape ratings (she had to ask what a Brute was) and didn't know Lung's name.

My third thought was that she had somehow found a way to get around my tech in order to throw me off. But she couldn't possibly know about my lie detector yet, right? Only a few members of the PRT and Miss Militia knew I was working on it. I remember thinking about the possibility of a mole in the PRT, but that would imply they were at a very high level of authorization, which I didn't want to consider. No, The most likely case was that, strangely enough that she was actually telling the truth. Or she had a thinker power that disguised it, but I had to at least go into this considering my tech was accurate or what was the point?

I also noted from the fuzzy cameras that she didn't seem to be that nervous. I couldn't be sure though, because of how low quality it was. Well, that's why I had my recorder. This, if true, struck me as odd. She was at the very least in an unfamiliar environment and had just gotten out of a hospital bed, yet seemed unfazed. Was it because she was expecting to be here, or that she was just that trusting of the heroes? Of course it was also possible I was just misreading it because of how bad the camera feed was.

Then she said she wasn't interested in joining the wards, which my lie detector picked up on. It wasn't registering 100%, but she definitely was interested. Yet she had said no. What was she trying to do?

Carlos seemed baffled and tried to figure that out. He asked if it was the grades and she said it wasn't which my lie detector noted as being almost completely true.

And then he asked her if it was that her parents didn't know. And then she erupted.

This whole time she had been calm and collected, not letting a single emotion or treble to her voice that a normal human ear would be able to detect. It had actually been quite impressive, almost as though she had been trained, or it was part of her power. But at that question she exploded into laughter. It was unsettling. It had come out of nowhere and I really wanted to know what had triggered it.

So did Carlos, but he had no idea what to do in this situation but wait for her to calm down.

I thought it might be a sign of abuse. Mental instability and rapid mood swings was one of the signs of mistreatment, and if it was caused by this particular question, that didn't bode well. Well, if she had been raised to think of her captor as her parent, then that made sense. I still wondered why the go around though. Why not simply accept the position in The Wards if she was going to be a spy?

She calmed down after a minute and answered him.

"They know about my powers," Mostly true he noted. So they were at least alive, as far as she knew, unless she was still referring to her captor. "And I can't see them objecting to me joining The Wards." Technically true, but she was hiding something. I thought the wording was odd, but couldn't find anything specifically worrying.

Carlos was still trying to figure out why she had refused. He couldn't think of any other reasons why she had refused. I could. There were two remaining possibilities. One, she didn't want to be in a situation where her powers were under scrutiny, which could imply she had more potential than we were expecting, or she had a truly dangerous power she thought we would react badly to. Two, she wanted to join, but her orders were to get The Wards interested in her but not join them just yet. I still wasn't sure why her captor would want her to delay or not join, but it was still a possibility.

"But, then… why? You seemed interested just a few minutes ago, and then you just said no. Those are the only two reasons I can think of why you wouldn't want to join so suddenly. Can you at least give me a reason?" Carlos continued to plead with her.

"I'm sorry," She said, "I just realized that I don't want to join just yet."

A power play? Normally, I could respect that. She had shown that she was strong and desireable, and it made some sense that she would want to make sure she was getting the best deal we could offer her. On the other hand, she seemed young to be trying to make a play like this. It didn't This wasn't helping me decide what her true story was, but it was adding to the mystery of who she was.

Carlos then offered to let her join the patrols this afternoon. I frowned. I had actually been planning a press release about the end of the ABB next weekend, as we had captured all three capes and the normal ABB members would be much easier to catch and contain now. I wanted to start preparing The Wards this afternoon, instead of their usual patrol.

Well, I guess it would be ok. I hadn't announced it and we still had time during the rest of the week to get them ready. After all, though the ABB capes were in custody here, they could still theoretically get freed somehow before they were transferred to a more secure facility, and if they did, this press release would just make that all the worse. Better to wait and make sure we had it under control.

They then went to go lunch, and I thought about what I had noticed so far.

1) Seems unfamiliar with PRT Cape designations, and Lung's cape name. Not a Brockton Bay resident?

2) Interested in joining The Wards, but wanted to pull a power play. Possible problems with authority?

3) Possibly doesn't want to share specific aspects of her power.

4) Something odd about her phrasing "I can't see them objecting to me joining The Wards." Look into this later.

5) Has something weird regarding her emotions. Was perfectly calm, than exploded in a fit of laughter. Have Gallant or a psychologist look into her.

Nothing terribly damning yet, but she hadn't done anything to quell his suspicions either.

They went in to the cafeteria. They joined Triumph and Vista who had been sitting together. I knew Vista had been looking forward to this one on one time for a while, but she seemed fine with inviting Hokage and Carlos to eat with them.

I felt more discomfort when they were talking about Shadow Stalker. I knew that they were having problems with her, but we needed her! In a city with as many cape villains as Brockton Bay, we need every cape we can get our hands on, even ones like Shadow Stalker.

Vista seemed really set on getting Hokage into the team. I felt uncomfortable. I didn't really know what a good outcome would be now. It was still possible for the best situation to occur, that Hokage wasn't a spy and I had just come to a wrong conclusion, and that she would join. I truly hoped that was the case, but I needed to see if she could be trusted, hence the recording device.

I wondered why she asked how many capes were currently in the Wards. It was yet more evidence that she had never learned anything about the cape scene in Brockton Bay, but she could easily find that information online. Why bother showing her ignorance when she didn't have to?

Then she revealed yet another power. She was apparently a changer capable of changing her facial features. Well, there go the chances of finding out her identity. Or it would have if I hadn't picked up that statement as a lie. She was using her real face behind the mask.

Technically it was illegal to try to find out a capes identity, but if they went around with a terrible or nonexistent mask, you couldn't be held liable if you "accidentally" noticed enough similarities and put the pieces together. Also, yet another power? How many did she have? Not to mention, depending on how closely she could mimic other people's appearance, we might have to be on constant lookout for M/S shenanigans. If she joined The Wards, with a high level stranger ability and access to internal files from being a Ward… we would have to make extra sure to keep her guarded and limit her access to sensitive files. If she could fool the biometric scanners, we could be in serious trouble.

And then she lied again about it feeling weird for her to "wear another face for an extended period of time". So that wasn't true, but why lie about that?

"I didn't know that at the time, Bakuda was throwing bombs everywhere and working with them was the best way to take her down before she caused any more damage." She said. And that was interesting. Very interesting, because it registered as _true_. She really _hadn't_ known the Undersiders were criminals before teaming up with them. So either she hadn't known the true story when she had been sent to help them, or she had been doing something else at the time and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Or, it was possible she had been sent, but just didn't know who she was helping, since she seemed ignorant of pretty much everything else about Brockton Bay.

This recording was helping me get answers, but also leaving me with even more questions. The only thing I was sure of was that there was something off about "Hokage".

Nothing more of note happened until the end when Triumph told Carlos I was working in my workshop. I should start preparing and getting ready to appear to have been working on something else when he arrives. But Hokage was still with them so I continued to listen.

I heard her tell Vista that she wanted to go to the library, and I prepared to pretend to have been working on a different tinker device I'd been working on for a while. An improvement to my helmets audio voice modifier, to add extra sound types.

I hadn't found conclusive evidence either way about how likely she was to be a spy for the Undersiders's boss, but I had learned that as a stranger she would definitely be more dangerous than I had first thought.

I was left with a few questions though: Why did she seem to know so little about the PRT or the capes in Brockton Bay, and if she was so unfamiliar, how did she manage to be in just the right place at just the right time to take down two of the most powerful capes in the city? And why were her responses so off on those few questions? And how many more powers did she have?

Whether or not she was a spy for the Undersiders's boss, there was definitely _something_ very strange going on regarding Hokage. Whatever happened I would need to be very careful.

I heard a knock on my door, then a louder knock, and I went to open it before the blaring siren that was supposed to snap me out of a tinker frenzy and remind me to actually answer the door and remember to eat.

Carlos was outside and entered the room.

"Carlos," I began but he cut me off.

Hi Armsmaster. I am asking official approval to take the independent cape Hokage with us on patrol at 3:00 today."

I responded with "Are you sure that would be a good idea?"

"Yeah, it would really help convince her that joining The Wards would be a smart move for her to make." He replied.

"Ok then, you have approval." I replied. "She will be going with Gallant and Vista. I'll go approve it with the PRT staff so they know."

He nodded. "Thanks, Armsmaster. Can I tell you something in private, no recordings please?"

I frowned. "Is this really that important?" He nodded.

"Ok, then. " I turned off most of my extra recording devices. "Now what is it you wanted to talk with me about?"

"While inviting an independent cape to go on patrol can help convince them that the Wards can be trusted and encourage them to join, recording them without their permission might send them away to become a villain. I don't know what your reasons were for spying on Hokage, but if we treat new capes like criminals, that's what they'll become."

He then placed my recording device on my desk.

"Bye Armsmaster." He said. And walked out the door.

I cursed. Nope, life could never just go my way.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Another chapter will come very, very soon. I hope you like this chapter!


	10. C9: Everyone: Can't catch me!

Here's chapter 9. Copied directly from the more polished version on Sufficient Velocity. (That's what I've been doing the last few days, which is one of the reasons, no new chapter yet. I was polishing the old chapters). (update 2/15/2016

In commemoration of Groundhog's day, (the patron holiday of the Naras/ the holiday of shadows) and deja vu,

 **This is the second chapter posted today.**

 _Be sure you didn't miss the previous chapter._

This takes place after Shikako went to the Library. While she was there, she did some research, and Skitter met her about an hour in to thank her personally and give her $2000 (still personally deciding on the amount) from Tattletale as thanks for helping them the other day, and to give her some time to find other options before having to rely on the Protectorate again.

(During the scene with Hookwolf chasing Vista, I like to think of the song, Yakety Sax).

The reason Armsmaster's/Colin's second part is spoilered is to make it easier to read Shikako's part together, and that it may spoil some parts of the rest of the chapter, Colin's part is important. You can go back and read it at the end if you want. (this was for SV. I like spoiler tags).

* * *

Chapter 9, Colin and Shikako: Run run run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the body snatch gal!

* * *

Colin:

"Tell me exactly what happened." I told Gallant. "You know how important it is that we get the right facts, and learn all we can about Hokage's powers, in case it turns out she didn't really get out ok like it appeared."

"I already handed in my report on what happened." Gallant said.

"I know but I want to hear it directly from you, including details that might not have made it into the report. We really need to be well informed."

Gallant took a breath, calmed himself and began to give his report.

"Fine. Hokage was told to accompany Vista and me on our afternoon patrol today. "When I first met her, I noticed that not only did she have emotions, but her shadow did as well, though they were very, very faint. It seemed, to be suspicious and fearful, while Hokage herself seemed to be very trusting, if abnormally calm."

"Is her shadow alive?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, though once again the emotions at the time were very minor, and I didn't sense them at all later." He replied. "We stopped a few muggings and assaults, when Hokage told us she sensed a disturbance nearby."

* * *

Shikako:

We went out and for a while found no crimes or events of note. We stopped a few muggings, but things were quiet. Until I noticed something strange. There was a female cape nearby, but with someone else's barely there pseudo-chakra also in the same body. That was new.

"There's something happening this way." I told Vista and Gallant.

"How do you know?" Vista asked, "Is it another one of your powers?"

"Yeah. Trust me, something's happening there." I responded.

They both nodded and we ran. We soon saw two green and red clothed Asian men beating up a Caucasian male. It was the Caucasian that was giving off the weird chakra, though it was a male? Something was odd here.

Gallant blasted the ABB members with emotion blasts that took them out, while I tried to figure out what was happening with the Caucasian.

"This isn't usual ABB territory." Vista asked as she walked closer. "Why were they attacking someone here? Especially with -"

I tuned her out. I had sensed a strong amount of pseudo chakra being flung in a few directions from the pseudo cape. I had gotten close and hadn't prepared defenses in time. What was wrong with me? I would never have let that happen back home. I hadn't sensed any danger somehow, but that was no excuse.

Due to my surprising incompetence, I could only stop the attack from hitting me or from hitting Vista. I jumped in front of her and took the attack.

* * *

Colin:

"Then she jumped in between Vista and the Caucasian and then stumbled." Gallant continued his report. "Then she held her head and started shaking."

He hesitated. "Her emotions rapidly changed. She experienced pain, and confusion. At the same time, the white male's emotions changed from joy and anticipation to confusion. He asked where he was. Then Hokage charged Vista and caught her with her shadow. Vista seemed surprised and scared, and considering how Hokage was acting, I assumed she was under M/S protocols and blasted her with a barrage of blasts. Vista got free and I sensed something strange so I blasted her too. She then ran off. Immediately afterwards, Hokage turned towards me and attacked. "

"She managed to get up and attack after being bombarded by your emotion blasts?" I asked.

"Actually, I think that after a few seconds her shadow was being affected by my emotion blasts, but she wasn't."

'So, she can likely transfer her emotions to her shadow so that she doesn't have to live with them. I wonder if she can control it' I thought to myself. That might have explained her mood swings in the hospital bay if she was using it, except it didn't explain why she would allow it to affect her like that in a situation like the one she had been in.

"Anyway, she knocked me down and told me Vista had been mastered." Gallant continued.

"I'm not sure how Hokage was able to know about the attack before it happened, or that Vista had been mastered but I wasn't, or why the master experienced pain when he tried to control her, as he didn't seem to have any problem with Vista or Cricket if the reports I've heard are accurate."

"It's possible it's another one of Hokage's powers, an anti-master power like her emotion shifting. Alternatively, it is possible that she was working with the master, and the master had tried to betray her, and this was a specific sort of fail safe put in place ahead of time."

"What?" Gallant seemed surprised.

"She lead you to an alley where there happened to be yet another new cape who also has a very dangerous and powerful ability? Who was working with the ABB, and so is likely also Asian like Hokage? Its still a possibility. The alternative is that she can sense capes or conflict."

"Is that really that hard to believe? She went after Vista to help her! And she took down the ABB capes. Why would she have done that if she was working with the master? What makes the most sense?" Gallant asked me, almost shouting before calming down at the end.

I thought about it. "Maybe you're right. However we need to be open minded about the possibility she is working against us." I held up my hand to silence Gallant's protests.

"It's still possible this was all a setup to help the cape get control of Hookwolf, maybe it was to improve her reputation in the eyes of The PRT, maybe it had been an ambush, but Hokage grew cold feet on the plan, or thought that if the master was trying to go after her instead of Vista like planned, that she couldn't trust her anymore and should try to stop her while she could, or maybe she took down the ABB capes so she could step in as leader. I will admit these seem unlikely, and I am taking that into account."

"Like you said, it is also possible she was acting fully on the up-and-up and just wanted to help Vista, but around here, a string of good luck like that is rare and we shouldn't take it for granted. I'm not saying that Hokage was doing or planning anything wrong, but we shouldn't just blindly trust her before we know anything substantial about her." I continued.

Gallant was staring at me. "I know we have to be cautious around new capes, and I know you said we wouldn't assume that she was acting to try and betray us, but it sounds like that's exactly what you're doing. This seems like you are almost looking for reasons to demonize her. Why?"

I sighed. "Stranger things than that have happened involving capes before. It's good to keep an open mind."

He looked at me and seemed like he wanted to say something but didn't.

"Finish your report please." I told him.

"Fine." He grunted out at me. "After saying Vista was being mastered, she withdrew and ran off, I assume to chase after Vista. I called back to base to report what happened, and then tried to catch up. I wasn't able to, my suit isn't nearly as good at improving my speed as Vista's or Hokage's abilities, so I instead went back to base to await new orders."

"There. That's all I know." Gallant finished.

"Thank you Gallant. That will do for now." I told him.

"How long will Hokage be in M/S protocols?" Gallant asked.

"Probably just till the morning, when we can call Panacea to get a look at her."

"Well at least you're going to let Panacea see her. I still think you're being too hard on her." Gallant told me.

I didn't respond to that, and we left the room in different directions.

I left the room thinking. Perhaps I was being too hard on her. Both Aegis and Gallant had told me to stop treating her like a criminal, and there was some sense to not letting my beliefs taint a potential relationship. Also, if she was a spy, it wouldn't do to let her know I was suspicious. I should try to do something about that.

* * *

Shikako:

I must have failed because now Vista had the double chakra. I didn't know what was wrong, but to be safe I caught her in my shadow. "Kage Mano Konpurito!" I called out.

Then I suddenly felt a deluge of conflicting emotions. I felt sick. I had to let go of the jutsu and saw Vista run off. I tried to release but failed, so I tried to shadow split … Gallant was attacking me? He must have assumed I had been the one mastered, which made sense but wasn't helpful right now.

I rushed Gallant and knocked him down. I told him to let me deal with this new cape who was mastering Vista and went off after her. I noticed I still had some of the other chakra in me, but I couldn't seem to get it out without stopping and losing Vista's trail. Frustrated, I pressed on ahead. Catching Vista was a higher priority now.

It wasn't easy. She was getting far ahead, since she could cheat and go much faster than me with her power. Not to mention she knew the city much better than I did. If she hadn't stopped when she did, I would not have been able to catch her. Unfortunately, it seemed she had stopped near some other capes.

I appeared and approached her when I was attacked by a giant metal beast. I managed to dodge out of the way, but it was a close call. After dodging I was attacked by a woman wearing a cage around her head who was dual-wielding kama, short scythes, moving with Rock Lee-speed. I barely managed to hold her off, before blocking with a kunai with an exploding tag and stepping back, giving me a second respite to get away from the assault. The woman charged out of the smoke, having only been slightly damaged by the blast.

"Cricket, hold." The wolf monster, I assumed he was Hookwolf from my research at the library, called out.

The woman stopped. "You're not one of ours, and you aren't with The Wards or Protectorate, and yet you still tried to interrupt my chat with the young ward. Why? Surely you aren't stupid enough to have thought that was a good idea." He growled at me.

"She's being" what was the phrase I had heard again? "Mastered. I'm trying to help her until she has her mind back." I replied.

"You think I didn't realize that?" Hookwolf spoke to me. "Vista, a model Ward for the last three years, suddenly shows up alone and offers to switch sides and join the E88? Of course she's being mastered. I've ordered my men to fill out the surrounding alleys to block her if she tries to escape. And should that fail, Cricket here can stop her. We will hold her until The Protectorate arrives to pick her up."

I respected that consideration for your enemies, especially young ones like Vista.

Upon hearing that last sentence, Vista tried to escape. She took giant steps towards the alley farthest away from me while the distance between us grew many times larger than it had been. A screeching noise rang out as Cricket ran after her. Vista tried covering her ears while running but still seemed to manage to avoid Cricket as I tracked them. Hookwolf snarled far behind us now as he also started to run, but Vista changed space and he rammed into a wall. He tried again, only to run into another wall. Then he ran into a third wall. Then he started running in the opposite direction. He howled in frustration. Cricket and I had enough maneuverability to avoid that fate and try to get around Vista's twisted space, but Hookwolf was fastest in a straight line and had much more trouble. Anyway, Hookwolf wouldn't have been able to go far through the twisting alleys without possibly hurting or killing his men.

Vista put more distance between us then shot me and Cricket as she approached. She must have gotten the gun when I had been out, and it proved she still had many ways to deal with us even if she couldn't stop our chase as easily as she could Hookwolf's.

I thought I had predicted the bullet's path based on the guns direction and moved out of the way, but it still hit me in my right side about a foot below the shoulder somehow. Cricket shrieked, an even more jarring sound then she had been letting out already. I supposed she had been shot as well. First Gallant, now Cricket. My insides were not having a great day, though I had faced worse and pushed through it. Vista though had finally been caught somehow, as she was surrounded by a lot of white men in one direction, many with shaved heads, and Cricket and me on the other side.

Cricket approached her and tried to slice her down. I tried to stop her from hurting Vista too badly while also trying to catch Vista with my shadow while she was distracted and out of it from Cricket's siren. I caught her. I walked forward to put a knockout tag on her head when Cricket attacked me. I defended myself but had to undo the jutsu to withstand the assault.

I cursed her and asked her why she was attacking me when I had finally gotten Vista, but really I knew. Somehow she had the double chakra now, like Vista and me, though hers was much more active. It just wasn't in my best interest to reveal how much I could sense yet, hence the question. She was moving differently than she had before, a different kind of martial arts. It was hard to counter. I had thought I was skilled in Taijutsu, but she was both extremely skilled and lightning fast. I tried just staying always right out of her reach, and blocking with special weighted daggers when that failed. Her left arm didn't seem to be in good shape, but her raw speed meant it was still hard to keep up with her.

Her scream was also that much worse when directed at me. I used my chakra to shield my ears, but it only did so much. I wasn't used to worsening my senses with chakra.

She went back to try to free Vista, but I went after her and brought her attention back to me.

Vista was soon dog piled by the unpowered men, and didn't seem capable of getting up. That avenue was closed to the master.

I think I blacked out again because a second later I was in a different place in the street.

"What is wrong with you?" Cricket asked me as we continued, taking a break from her screech. "You a cape 53? Why is your body so stupidly weird?" I didn't answer as I kept fighting back trying to get an advantage in the narrow space, while also trying to lead her away from Vista.

The relatively small space, combined with Crickets speed and disorienting siren meant I couldn't get enough distance to make a hand sign and perform a jutsu. The best I could do was stay slightly out of reach of her attacks. Her weapons were also much better than ones I had with me for short distance fights, other than my lightsaber, which I was not revealing in the presence of someone who could take control of my body and possessions.

This assault continued. At this point, the sound had caused me to start seeing double, and I was dodging by noticing her chakra and moving out of the way of where it would naturally extend to with her weapons. It's possible we went into more open areas as we fought, but I was unable to trust my senses and take advantage if we did.

I sensed three new capes nearby, then for some reason Cricket stopped her assault and dropped to the ground.

The next thing I knew, I was the one lying on the ground, and my face hurt. Cricket had gotten past me, and run off. The Empire 88 men had been told to guard Vista and stop her from escaping, but not Cricket.

I felt bad about letting Cricket escape, but I wasn't going to leave Vista alone with the E88 members, regardless of how they were "protecting her". I had no idea what was going to happen when The Protectorate arrived.

I got back and was saw a person in a blue armored suit with a giant halberd on their back, talking with a more human looking Hookwolf. There was a man in a red suit and visor behind him next to a woman in a green and black costume with a green visor. I assumed they were Assault and Battery. Vista had been walked over to them, constantly surrounded by a myriad of E88 members so she couldn't escape.

I wasn't sure who the person in the blue armor was, until I realized Hookwolf, had called them "Armsmaster". That couldn't be right, they only had the pseudo chakra in their brain, not spread out. I thought about it. I could vaguely recall Cricket had her pseudo chakra spread out throughout her body though she was clearly female. I guess the rule wasn't ironclad. I also noted there was something different about Battery's pseudo chakra, despite it all being in her brain, but that wasn't important right now.

I improved my hearing using chakra instead of dampening it. I doubted I would be able to hear anything at all otherwise.

I walked up to them. Hookwolf rounded on me. "Where's Cricket?" He asked me, in a voice that hinted at hidden danger.

"She got away." I told him.

He roared at me. "You let her get away?"

"She got away, or are you telling me you think Cricket is so useless a cape that she couldn't have gotten away without me letting her?" I questioned him.

He grew larger with more weapons emerging from him. Battery, in a burst of movement that corresponded with her unusual pseudo chakra spreading throughout her body, rushed to my side.

"That's enough. She's a new cape and was fighting against a powerful cape. I'm sorry she wasn't able to help you, but that wasn't her duty." Battery said to Hookwolf.

"And I suppose if Cricket is caught after being freed by the master, or if the master leads her to your capture, then you're going to arrest her?" Hookwolf snarled at her.

"She has a warrant out for her arrest, so yes. If we find and capture her, we will arrest her." Armsmaster responded.

"She only got mastered because we decided to help one of yours! My men were injured protecting Vista, and you won't help us for even those damages? What kind of message will that send?" Hookwolf queried.

"That we don't work with Nazi's. While we appreciate her assistance in helping Vista, she is still a criminal and we will be obligated to arrest her if we see her again. We will however, give you a temporary stay and won't arrest you here for your past crimes or for the damage you did to the stores around here, out of respect for your help today. Don't test that patience. You're outnumbered and outgunned."

Hookwolf laughed at him while Battery shook her head. "If you think even all of you combined can stand up to me, you don't know who you're dealing with. You wouldn't try it anyway, attack me and the whole E88 will go to war with the Protectorate. You wouldn't survive that and you know it." Then he growled. "But if Cricket isn't returned soon, you might learn it through experience rather than a hypothetical."

"Let's go." He gestured to his men. A few men were noticeably injured from Cricket's attack.

"Hey Hookwolf." Armsmaster called out. "Oh no," I heard Battery whisper next to me as I thought the same. "If you care about Cricket so much, why didn't you protect her?"

Wow. Armsmaster really was what Skitter described him as. I understood a little better why she said to avoid doing anything through him if at all possible, and to instead try to go through Miss Militia.

Hookwolf turned and seemed about to strike. Then he caught himself. "Next time Armsmaster." He growled.

"I'll be waiting." Armsmaster replied smugly. Wow. I wanted to punch him, and Hookwolf didn't seem to have great impulse control. Yet he walked on, his men walking with him.

"Sorry about Armsmaster." Battery whispered to me. "You eventually learn to live with him and Assault."

Assault, who had been steadily inching forward to us chose that moment to respond. "Aw, I'm not that bad once you get to know me." Battery rolled her eyes through her mask.

"Is that the generic face mask from the base?" She asked me. I nodded. "You may need to get a better one soon."

Personally, I thought it was a much better disguise than her visor, but I held my tongue.

Armsmaster turned towards me. "Hokage. Thank you for going after Vista. I can assure you that fighting the Empire's capes is not normal for The Wards. I urge you not to consider this when deciding if you want to join The Wards, though I do think this is a good example of what can happen when you are alone without backup. You might come across situations you can't handle, despite initial circumstances suggesting otherwise."

"Also, I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but I need you to come with us now."

"Why?" I asked.

"You were under the effect of a master, and it wasn't made clear that they couldn't control you even now, or have some other effect on you that may be more subtle. We need to check you and make sure you are free of their influence."

"How long would I be forced to stay?" I asked carefully.

"As long as it takes to make sure you aren't under someone else's control."

'And until you agree to join us and be under our watch more officially' went left unsaid.

I shook my head. I couldn't waste however much time it would take to have them check and confirm I was master-free. I needed to get my research done as soon as I could. "I'm sorry, but I don't really see why I need to go with you."

'Besides, ' I thought to myself, 'unless they have someone specifically capable of checking for that influence, I'd be better at checking myself than any of them'. The foreign chakra had died out very quickly after Cricket had escaped, and had been fully gone by the time I had walked back to see Armsmaster talking to Hookwolf.

"You went into battle with a master that can control capes, alone, and were the only one known to come out. There is a strong likelihood that you are the master controlling Hokage's body or masquerading as her. You need to get checked. If there is fallout for this, I will take it, but I will not let a cape with as much potential for harm as you may have go without making sure you are in control of your facilities."

I frowned at that behind my "mask" but it made a lot of sense. I could see that even Assault and Battery thought so as well. It wouldn't be smart to get the local authorities angry at me if I didn't have to, and they had let me go out before. Additionally, refusing at this point would make me look like I was being mastered, and there were three of them right there.

"Fine. I'll get checked. How long will it take?" I asked.

"We'll hook up a lie detector and ask you a few questions. then we just have to wait till morning to see if there are any lingering effects and you should be free to go." He replied.

Great. Another night lost. At least I could use the time to go through what I had learned and do some more brainstorming of ideas to get home.

Battery turned to me. "Despite Armsmaster's wonderful personality suggesting otherwise, it won't be that bad. Plus, you'll get to meet Panacea."

Armsmaster shook his head.

"We can't risk her getting mastered as well. We can call her in the morning, if all goes well, but she can't heal Hokage while she is under M/S protocols."

Battery whispered to me "Sorry."

"No, he's right. Anyway, I'll get healed tomorrow so it's no big problem." I assured her.

She stared at me. "But your ears are bleeding! Come to think of it, how can you even hear anything after fighting Cricket for so long?"

I shrugged in reply.

"Ok. We're all going together so that if one of us tries to escape, the others can catch them." Armsmaster spoke.

We all ran next to his motorcycle at a steady pace as we headed towards the PRT building.

* * *

Author's notes:

Chiyo's original plan:

1) Body-snatch Vista, and then kill whatever Ward was traveling with her using the gun in her temporary body. Leave a sign that implicated the E88 attacking because they no longer had to risk fighting both the ABB and the Protectorate at the same time, or for aiding a new non-Caucasian cape (Hokage).

Also commit other traditional E88 crimes as Vista, in order to further the blame, and then either kill Vista, or disappear with her. Enough people would be so caught up in initial rage that they would call for the E88's heads and charge in before the more reasonable people could stop them.

Unfortunately, she wasn't counting on Hokage to notice her so soon, and wasn't expecting the pain and unusual body Hokage had when she possessed her, which made the other Wards suspicious. She also wasn't counting on Hokage knowing to attack Vista as soon as she switched bodies to Vista. Then when Gallant blasted her she ran away in confusion before realizing that things were not going according to plan.

She tried to think on her feet, and appear to join the E88 in reality, maybe she could still salvage the mission. Unfortunately for her, this was foiled by Hookwolf's noble demon tendencies/lack of suicidal tendencies of knowing not to purposefully start a full on war with the PRT.

* * *

Other Author's notes

2) I honestly did not think of the Nematomorpha connection with Cricket until I looked up "Cricket worm" in google to see what her appearance was like and saw the info on Nematomorpha again. Honestly, I came up with the fact that she would meet up with Cricket after chapter 7 and didn't even realize that Cricket would be her final body of the chapter until it was almost finished. (I also only looked up "Cricket worm" near the end of the chapter, when I had cemented she would be in the chapter and I would probably have to describe her appearance.)

3) Hookwolf, as "Vista's" main target who also moved more in straight lines than the other two capes had been led in a maze by Vista when she was being controlled, so that he ended up far away. By the time he got back, Cricket and Hokage were a distance away, and he didn't trust his men to "play nice" with Vista while he wasn't around to watch them. He prioritized making sure the Ward was ok over going after Hokage and Cricket.

4) Gallant got a shorter M/S sentence because he wasn't controlled, unlike Vista and Hokage.

5) Next chapter, Shikako gets her mental faculties back, and meets Panacea. I really hope I write it well (it's harder than I might have thought, and not posted anywhere yet)

Update 2/15/2016

6) I removed Chiyo's part to make the story flow better.

7) Made Armsmaster less of a jerk.

Spoiler tags make everything so much better :). They don't have them on fan fiction net...

Edit: 3/1/2016. Chapter 10 allowed me to use a phoenix down in this chapter. I still don't like chapter 10 though.


	11. C10:Mary:Time to See a Healer

This story is now mirrored on Sufficient Velocity! If you want to give more than 1 comment per chapter, you can comment on there. Reviews are still nice though.

Spoiler tags make everything better, and neater :)

edit 2/23: Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. I officially hate this chapter. Its much more in line with the other chapters now, but considering what it was before, nope.

 **WARNING: LIKE CHAPTER 7, THIS CHAPTER IS DARKER THAN MOST OTHERS**

* * *

 **Chapter 10, Mary: Time to see a healer. Wait a sec, why is this chapter from my perspective? … Carp.**

* * *

"Nice job Greg! Everyone else, go another round before you can even think of going to Othala!"

I watched Victor training our soldiers, proud to be part of the master race. We were obviously better than those other races. We knew that as an undeniable fact. Even if we didn't do anything with ourselves, we were still better than those subhumans _by default._ However, if we didn't push ourselves, didn't _prove_ that we were undeniably the best in every category that mattered, the lesser races may get the wrong idea about their place in life, and that just wouldn't do. Greg, as the winner of the last bout, had the right to get access to my regeneration, but he refused it out of pride. I approved, partly.

We were strong, we could handle pain far longer than any of those blacks or other lessers, but I thought there was a point where enduring pain when you didn't have to was bordering on foolish. Oh well. I would respect his wishes.

I heard a phone ring out quietly and I frowned. No one should have their phones with them during training. Someone must not be taking this as seriously as I thought. We would have to make an example of them, force them to do extra work or get kicked out. Shame too. These were looking to be some fine recruits.

Then I realized the phone was mine. Oops. I picked it up, and noticed it was Hookwolf. No, I'd rather not listen to him yell right in my ear right now. I let the phone ring without picking up. If problems arose later I could always say that I hadn't noticed it.

Then I saw something odd. What was Cricket doing here? We didn't really get along well, and she generally tried to stay out of my way. Maybe this was about what Hookwolf was calling about? She came over to me. This must be important.

"Hey Othala. I got shot. Heal me." Cricket demanded.

That stopped me cold. Cricket never asked me for healing. Ever. It was a point of pride with her. Either this wasn't Cricket, or she was being mastered. I needed to find a way to signal Victor something was wrong, but how?

Victor apparently noticed something was wrong, as he turned and ran towards Cricket. "Well, that makes this quicker." She said.

She forced us to clasp hands. If this imposter thought I was going to grant them regen-

* * *

eration they were sadl- when did Victor get so close?

"Thanks." The imposter told me. Before casually breaking my right arm with a quick two handed attack.

I fell over in shock more than pain though that was definitely there, as Victor and the recruits arrived to fight the imposter Cricket. Who was noticeably healing and managing to fight them off. She was also mimicking Crickets ability to disorient her opponents, if the actions of the recruits relative to before were any indication. So she had more than just Cricket's appearance, but her powers as well? This, in addition to the fact that the recruits had already been exhausted, meant it was more a slaughter than a proper fight.

Victor, Greg and two other men had managed to make it over to me while "Cricket" was fighting the others. I didn't want to unclench my hands, it hurt so much. "Othala, we need invincibility, or else we're gone. We need it now!" Victor roared at me.

I was one of the peak of humanity, and would not let something simple like a broken arm stop me. Hell, the imposter could really be one of _them_ , and the thought of one of them winning against us was simply unthinkable. I thrust my still fully functional left hand to him, granting him invulnerability. I was reaching for the others, when I heard a siren, extremely loud, right at the very top of my range of hearing and I stumbled, trying to fight through the onrush of noise with my ears feeling like they were about to explode. This was one of Crickets techniques that she held in reserve. She never revealed she could do this unless she was truly desperate. How would the imposter know she could do this?

Suddenly two of the three remaining men were dead on the ground and Victor was holding off Cricket, who had gone back to her simpler, and quieter hypersonic siren, if the fact that I could no longer hear anything at all was any indication. Though that could have just meant her ability to deafen people had already taken affect. I granted healing to the remaining member. Almost all the recruits were dead or knocked out, save for two worthless cowards who had left when the fighting with Cricket had started.

Fortunately, if the fight continued long enough, Victor would win. The regeneration would eventually wear off, and would do so much faster with Victor's ability in play. He moved so beautifully too. Watching him fight always filled me with a sense of pride and satisfaction.

Already Cricket was slowing down. It was only a matter of time till reinforcements came. I had never liked Cricket much, and if her life was the price of ending this? I was ok with that.

I turned to give the remaining member invulnerability instead of regeneration.

When I turned back, my heart almost stopped. There was another girl, one of a lesser race no less, standing behind Victor who had somehow stabbed him in the back with some kind of dagger, and he fell. But he was invincible! He shouldn't have been able to be hurt, much less killed! How?

Cricket charged the girl only for the newcomer to disappear a half-second later.

Cricket then picked up the dagger, faced me, and grinned through her cage.

The last man, John? It was hard to remember, got up and tried to defend me, but Cricket was too fast. What was worse, was that it seemed that dagger broke through my invulnerability. He had been one of the better fighters, but Cricket had superhuman reflexes and quickly ended him with the dagger.

I then thought I saw her mouth say a curse, though my hearing was temporarily gone so I couldn't be sure. Cricket charged me,and cut through my left shoulder before turning and running away. I crawled over to Victor.

I barely registered reinforcements arriving as I made it to him, and pressed my left hand against his chest. I couldn't feel anything. My power just wouldn't come. I pressed harder.

Someone came over to me and their mouth made the motions to ask me for speed to take me to Panacea. "You have to take Victor too." I told him.

He made gestures at me, but I held firm. Another man came over and I gave them both speed and they rushed us off to the hospital and Panacea.

I must have blacked out along the way.

* * *

I woke in a hospital, Panacea holding my healed right hand and arm. Hookwolf, in his human form, Krieg, and Stormwolf were all standing around me.

"There. She's healed enough, she'll survive. Now leave." I heard Panacea call out, bitterly.

I saw my allies nod, but there was something missing. "Victor, where's Victor?" I rasped.

Strangely Panacea was the one to answer me. "He's dead. There was nothing I could do. I can't bring people back to life."

"You're lying! You sick -! You just wanted to see him dead! You don't deserve to be an Aryan! You're as bad as them, fine with watching us die like dogs! You could have saved him! He wasn't dead! You just didn't _want_ to save him! You'll pay for this! I swear I'll make you -" she touched me and all I knew was darkness.

* * *

Author's note:

1) What did you think of this chapter? Did you like it, did you hate it, did you think I had abandoned the story (it's only been two weeks...)?

2) Next chapter _probably_ involves Shikako meeting Panacea. That, or an idea of what she's doing on Earth Bet.

3) edit: I think that in the future, I should post chapters in a spoiler tag for one day in SV before posting here, to make sure I know whether or not the chapter will be dark ahead of time, and thus plan for that. This will also allow me to add any last minute feedback edits in before people see it on this site.

edit 2/23: I hate this chapter now. I really, really do. I managed to write it and post it, then check it twice, and not realize what I had actually wrote. No, I will not have a character cry out that hard for a loved one and have them not be saved. Nope. Nope. Rewriting this. This fic was never meant to get darker than chapter 7 (and even that was pushing it somewhat) and this has, so nope. that part has to be removed, to lessen the impact.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

The story part of Chapter 11 is about 5700 words done by now, and a lot of what I'm doing is editing, thinking of what I want to happen for chapter 12, and trying to write an at least acceptable explanation for why what has happened, has happened. I will wait a few days after all editing is done, and make sure to go through a checklist of what I will not include in future chapters (basically, anything that happened in this chapter) before I post them in the future.

If you really think the first version was better (where she tries harder to save him and voices her thoughts), I have a version of it on Sufficient Velocity.) Personally, I think it goes into areas this story shouldn't.

Edit 2/22: I realized this chapter was more gory than I intended, and there was no need for that. I have fixed it. I do not want any chapter of this story to ever get much darker than chapter 7, except for possibly emotional distress like in this chapter. I will be checking this more diligently in the future.

I am going to make a checklist of things NOT to include in this story to keep it from getting too dark. This chapter will serve as an example of what not to do.

Even then, I hope to only have that in "Villain perspective" chapters, and put them in spoilers so people can identify them early and avoid them if they want to. Shikako chapters may have emotional distress, but hopefully I will be able to navigate the story at least for a little while so that they are only bittersweet emotions, like missing her family, rather than ones like in villain chapters.


	12. Chapter 11: Shikako: Meeting a healer

Chapter 11 Pre chapter notes:

For extra fun, déjà vu can also refer to a sense of familiarity or recognition in a completely new place or with someone you haven't met before. Or, you know realizing the chapter title is the same, or the events in the chapter, and you know what? This note is done.

This chapter was very hard to write, and had at least 25k-30k+ words total written about alternative ways it could have gone that were scrapped and this version was selected.

In other news, this chapter had a beta! Thanks Wobulator for all your help!

As a reminder, this story is mirrored on Sufficient Velocity.

Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for DOS up to chapter 107/108.

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Shikako: / Meeting a healer/Why do I have such a strong sense of déjà vu?/ Wait… chapter 11? Who stole my chapter?**

* * *

When I got to the M/S Cell, they asked me to leave my weapons behind. I told them it was impossible, and some of my equipment might be dangerous if I wasn't nearby to check on it in case something went wrong. They insisted, and I reluctantly gave them my scrolls though they let me keep my mask. They didn't know about my gelel stone, or hammerspace bracer so I kept those as well.

They gave me a chance to call my parents and let them know what was happening if I wanted, but I declined.

The M/S cell itself was surprisingly pleasant. They had a nice bed, and a separate spot in the corner for the bathroom. While they apparently couldn't summon the healer despite the fact that I had been shot and they didn't know I had healing powers of my own, they did give me food, water and just as important, strong pain medicine.

It helped, and I managed to heal some of my worst injuries with my chakra throughout the night, and fix my ears enough that I could hear without increasing my hearing through chakra. I wished I had kept up the medical part of our study group a little longer though, and gone to a few more sessions.

I had been hooked up to a lie detector, and asked some questions asking me about who I had met when I came here, and what I had said and seen.

They also asked me some questions through a glass screen and some through a loudspeaker to test the lie detector, such as the color of a shirt and directly asking me if I was being mastered.

Other questions were less expected. They asked if I remembered when I got my powers, long with several others. I wasn't what they were talking about, but I answered yes anyways.

They also asked me about what had happened during the patrol. "Why did you go to that area off the usual patrol?"

I had already told Vista and Gallant this, but it hadn't likely been recorded. Given the lie detector, I decided to tell the truth. "I had a sense that something was wrong there, and asked The Wards to check it out with me."

"Can you tell us more about this sense?"

" I thought this was about whether or not I was being mastered, not about what my powers were." I bit back.

"Yes, but its possible you were being mastered into luring the Wards to that location. Can this sense of yours be fooled?"

"You think that some cape out there is likely to be able to master me through my ability, instead of any other method that might actually apply to more than .0001% of the population?"

"It's possible." They said.

"Well, it turned out I was right, and the master didn't get either me or Vista, so I don't see how this could even prove I was being mastered."

They asked some more questions, and I managed to keep them from learning too much, while still cooperating and answering their questions.

* * *

Eventually, Gallant came by and also asked me some questions, most the same questions I had been asked before. I suspected he also had some secondary power to help tell if someone was mastered, via their emotions. I wondered why he hadn't used it when we were back there and I had caught "Vista". Oh well.

Now all that was left was to wait the predetermined time period to see if I showed any other symptoms and I would be free to go.

After the check, a doctor was sent to see me, to assess how bad the damage had been. I had a nasty gash on my left forearm from when Cricket had slashed me after her scream, as well as a variety of other cuts and bruises, and my bullet wound. The doctor helped clean my wounds, and bandaged them. Unfortunately, though there was only so much he could do, and after wrapping up my wounds he left.

I spent some time trying to think of how I could possibly get back home, coming up with a few things to look into, including using the Hiraishin kunai though that was low on my list. The Fourth Hokage had left dozens during his battles and they had never been reverse engineered so far, and considering that ability had made him the first flee on sight target _ever_ , that would not have been from lack of trying.

Another problem was that the Hiraishin kunai was tuned to the Fourth's chakra signature, not mine, and even if I managed to recreate it, without a similar kunai in my original world, it wouldn't do much good. However, if I managed to get the jutsu working, I thought I could get around that particular problem through summoning trickery.

There were surprisingly few ways of traversing or accessing other dimensions, other than artificial ones like the ones in storage scrolls and ones that were out of my grasp like Kamui.

It seemed likely that if I wanted to get back home, it would have to be through something in this world, not from a miracle from Konoha.

* * *

After about an hour or so, I thought back to my time at the Library.

My first priority had been to try to let the people in Konoha know what had happened to me. Before I went in the library, I went into an empty building nearby (I couldn't sense anyone inside) and tried my summoning jutsu:

* * *

I made the hand seals, pushing chakra and blood into the summoning jutsu and pushed for the technique to work. I felt something, like the seal was trying to work, before it fizzled out.

I had felt the jutsu working, but I guess I needed more chakra here. I tried again, putting as much chakra into it as I could, hoping to clear the hurdle and actually complete the summoning technique. I really wanted this to work.

"Summoning Jutsu!" I called out again, louder this time. For a moment nothing happened.

Then a familiar young faun appeared in front of me. "Summon Lady! Summon Lady!" Nagaoka called out bouncing around. Where was Heijimaru? Could it be that even after putting in that much chakra I didn't have enough for him to come? Nagaoka looked around. "Wow. Where are we?"

"Nagaoka, listen to me, this is very important. If I write a letter, can you take it to Heijimaru?"

"Ok, but why?" His young eyes were full of excitement and curiosity.

"I'm stuck here for a while, but I'm not in great danger, and I haven't died or been kidnapped. I just want to let the village know I'm ok."

He looked at me quizzically. "How can you be stuck? There's lots of space to run around in." He hopped around for a bit to prove it. Then he stopped and looked away. "Though Papa was reluctant to let me come for some reason."

I smiled at him instead of frowning at that. "Can you please give Heijimaru the letter?"

He beamed at me. "Course I can!" Then he looked down shyly.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out a deer treat and he nibbled at it with an expression of pure joy on his face.

I sat down to write my letter.

 _Hejimaro,_

 _I have been transported to another populated world. I am currently safe and looking for a way back home. I am not in immediate danger, or been kidnapped, as far as I can tell._

 _I need you to let the blackbirds know this so they can let their summoner know when he/she next summons one. If you can let any of the ninken or bat summons know, they might also be able to help pass on word._

 _Thank you._

 _The Deer Summoner_

I didn't actually sign my name, or give information on the blackbird summoner, in case it somehow got lost or intercepted, but the summoners from Konoha would know what it meant if word was passed to them.

I also didn't include the other summons of Konoha since they lived in a different location in the summon world****** and wouldn't be able to be reached. I also didn't want any foreign nin to know all the summons Konohagakure had access to if the letter was somehow intercepted.

Hopefully they would also send me news through the summoning so I could find out what was happening back in Konoha.

Nagaoka took the letter in his mouth and I undid the jutsu, sending him back with the letter.

* * *

After the summoning jutsu, I went back to the library to do research. My first priority here had been to learn about the world I was in, and get an understanding of my surroundings and the people I had met. I didn't know if I would find a way home quickly and if I didn't then I needed to understand my surroundings to survive long enough to find a way back. It was stupid to be unprepared when you didn't have to. I included focused research on the Undersiders and the Protectorate as well.

Learning about Brockton Bay and some overarching basics about the world as a whole had taken most of my time, but I had made sure to leave enough time for a few other important subjects.

I had noticed that this world had been very similar to my original one, including most of history up through the 1970's, when someone named Scion had appeared.

To my surprise, I had learned that while Naruto did exist in this world, it had ended during the middle of the Zabuza arc when the creator had died in the Leviathan attack, and so most of the story was unknown. However, it still had a small cult following. I also thought I saw a reference to a scene that shouldn't have happened in the story by that point, but couldn't find another reference. Hopefully it was just fanfiction, but I resolved to look into it later when I had time.

I had also noted that according to the computer, I had been sent to a time only a few months before I had first died. I had decided to look myself up to see if I was alive on this planet. Neither I nor my original sisters had ever been born here. However, my parents were alive, married, and had a son just a few years younger than I was when I died the first time. I had an alternate dimensional little brother.

This _greatly_ interested me, and made me wonder if there was a world where my two original siblings (and maybe even I?) still lived, but I had a new family now, and a brother who was probably (if time was passing there. It was unclear since apparently I had traveled back in time, 13 and a half years _after_ I had first died) worried sick about me. I had to get back to him and let him know I was ok. Once I knew I had a way home, I could afford to go see my family here, but I needed to make sure I would be safe and that I could get to my second home if I needed to my priorities. I would not let myself get too attached to this world until I knew there was no way home.

I took a break from thinking over the Library visit to wonder about what was happening back in Konoha. If Shika knew that I was missing, he would probably do something stupid. I needed to let them know I was safe. Another thought struck me. What if the village was under attack? Things had been relatively peaceful, but disasters were known to come from seemingly nowhere all the time. For all I knew, I hadn't been the only one sent to another world. It might have been a group attempt to clear Konoha for an attack.

If it had been the start of an attack, then worrying about it wouldn't help matters. It didn't change my course of action. I still had to find a way back as soon as possible.

I did wonder why the thought of an attack hadn't occurred to me earlier though. Just a few days before I had attacked Sasuke for approaching me from behind without my sensing him (sure the sharingan raised my battle flags, but the essence of the incident was the same), and now I didn't think an attack could happen if I wasn't seeing it directly?

I thought back. When I had first gotten here, once I had realized it wasn't a genjutsu, I had almost immediately dropped the thought that it had been another kind of deliberate attack. True I was still alive and mostly uninjured, but that didn't prove it hadn't been a malicious attack.

Then when I saw Bakuda, covered in a bandolier of bombs, in an area that had obviously suffered some recent explosions I didn't immediately assume she was the cause until after I _actually saw her throw a bomb_. Yes, my mind was dizzy, lower on chakra than I had been a minute ago and in an unfamiliar (and at the same time shockingly familiar) location, but still, that lack of critical thinking and poor response time scared me.

During the fight with Lung I had also hesitated a second before I responded and took in that it was an attack. If it weren't for my reflexes, and the fact that I had recovered to a better state of mind by that point, I could have died there. Then during the fight with the new master I had been too slow to respond to the possible threat and allowed them to get their attack in that let them master Vista. I had thought at the time it might be due to my distraction over what I had learned, but _I didn't get distracted like that during missions_. If anything, I was more likely to be too quick to respond to a potential attack rather than too hesitant. No, that was likely the same problem as the earlier instances.

For some reason my mentality had been affected, such that I didn't seem to assume anything was an attack until it was proven to be one. While that could be useful if it turned out to be correct, it was more likely to prove fatal during an unexpected encounter with an enemy. I needed to figure out why this was happening.

I had also had a decreased sense of danger in general since coming here. I had been less on my guard, less tense, and more emotional than I usually was. I hadn't told Tattletale to stop using her power as strongly as I should have, I hadn't felt as creeped out by Skitter as I usually would have, and while Vista was adorable, I shouldn't have felt _that_ attached to her that soon if she didn't have a power specifically for it, and she didn't. I had also named myself Hokage, which made no strategic sense whatsoever in hindsight. What would have happened if Naruto was well known here?

I needed to see if this was a long term problem, or if it had a specific cause and try to fix it. It was less important than finding a way home, but this slow reaction time could end up killing me, and that couldn't be allowed to happen.

It was possible part of the problem was that most capes' chakra didn't have much if any emotion behind them, so even if they were attacking you their killing intent was much lower. That couldn't account for all of my lackadaisical responses, but it might account for some.

It couldn't account for why I had felt so unsettled after reading about my alternate family though. I had almost lost the ability to concentrate, feeling such strong emotions. I had tried to push through, and then the emotions had greatly diminished. Thinking back, that wasn't natural, and couldn't solely be attributed to the lack of emotion in people's chakra.

I would have to work hard to make sure I was always on my guard. Ironic considering I had been training for the opposite in a way just a few days ago.

* * *

Now I needed to decide what I would do next after I had been healed.

Obviously I would research the book and see what I could about how it related to this world. I would also have to do more research and see if there was anything, or anyone here that could help me. There were a few other areas I should look into on my own as well.

I also needed to find some backup. It was dangerous to travel alone in an unfamiliar area, and I didn't have my team with me. What about the groups I had met so far? How much should I involve them and try to garner their aid?

* * *

First, the Undersiders. I highly suspected that winding up near them had not been a coincidence for a few reasons****, but I didn't think they were directly behind it. They hadn't seemed to know who I was any more than I knew who they were (other than tattletale, who might be excused).

How much should I involve myself with them?

So far they had been helpful, aiding me in the fight, making sure not to damage me through my shadow possession, giving me a phone and resources (though I would have to get a new phone soon, to be safe), and they had offered me hospitality. They were considered villains, but their behavior hadn't seemed akin to missing nin, even seeming friendlier and more open than Idate had been. I wondered what had happened to make them go against the heroes, but there were probably many, many possible reasons. The same could have been true in Konoha as well.

What would the downsides be of increasing my involvement with them? First, Tattletale could learn about where I was from if she hadn't already, and might find out some more secrets. On the other hand, considering the lack of information about the Undersiders (well, except Bitch, and to a lesser extent, Grue from before they had teamed up) she didn't spread information about her team around.

The Undersiders were also well known and disliked after the bank robbery they had pulled four days ago. If I was seen to associate with them, it could label me a villain, even if it was simply a misunderstanding and I was just meeting them to talk or find a place to safely stay (Keeping guards and seals active to prevent them from trying anything while I was asleep). This might prevent me from working with the heroes and neutral parties like the Toybox: a collection of "tinkers" that Tattletale had sent me a link about, though I wouldn't be able to afford their services without a large source of government backed currency.

Another risk was that since I had been seen working with them already, if I was seen with them again it would be likely for people to assume I was with them, regardless of my protests and lack of evidence that I had ever committed a crime.

It was also possibly they had darker secrets I didn't know about and could get tangled up in if I went with them. This might actually be what had brought them together. Grue and Bitch had very different histories, Grue doing small robberies, with careful planning and execution before slipping away, while Bitch would usually charge onto a scene, rob a place then run out not caring how much noise and destruction she left behind. Bitch was also confirmed to be from a different city, yet t had still somehow met up with Grue, Regent, Tattletale and Skitter here. I wondered what had brought them together to this specific location, since from what I read, it was not a place people usually willingly traveled _to_.

They also didn't have anyone on their team that could likely help me find a way home, except for maybe Tattletale if her power was stronger than she had shown.

What would be the positives?

I would have food and shelter without having to steal or otherwise create it myself. I had some money and so could last for a while, but unless I wanted to try selling my seals here, it wouldn't last for long.

I wouldn't have to actually join up with them or do any crimes. I could just treat them as acquaintances that I could use for information if I ever needed it and thought they could help more than others could.

Tattletale _might_ be able to help me if I ever grew desperate enough to ask for her help.

If I actually joined, I would have backup in case I came into a situation I couldn't handle on my own.

* * *

What about the Wards?

Like the Undersiders, they had been pleasant with me, but they hadn't pressed too hard to learn about my background or secrets until I was put in M/S quarantine.

What would the downsides be of increasing my involvement with them?

I didn't trust that if they found something incriminating against me (such as where I came from) they wouldn't confront me and possibly blackmail me into joining them or force me to lose rights and access to some things I needed, but I didn't think they would actively search for a reason to blackmail me or hinder me in my goals if I stayed under their radar. Unfortunately, if I joined them, there might be more in depth searches, which would cause problems.

Additionally, if I officially joined them I would lose large amounts of time going to "school", going on patrols and doing busywork and learning their regulations. I would also be a new ward, and unlikely to have enough influence or rank to actually get access to the resources I needed. And if I succeeded in getting home with their or Dragon's help…

I felt cold. They would likely have access to an ability or piece of technology capable of traveling to my world. If a government I didn't know or trust had access to that ability, it could mean disaster for at least one of the worlds or countries. Considering that The U.S and Canada were each more populated than all the five elemental lands back home combined (by a factor of multitudes), and considering the warlike and destructive impulses of people with power in general, it would not be a good idea for that kind of transport to be easily available.

This world's relationship with Earth Aleph, (which I had only learned about right before I went on the patrol, and which I _was_ going to research more), was only as good as it was because only media could be transferred, not people or materials. What I needed was more than that, and horrors might ensue.

I realized I could not become a Ward and would have to limit my dependence and involvement of the government in any attempt to get back home.

That said, if I was discrete about it, I could still probably use them for some resources, support, and knowledge, as long as they never learned why I needed it. Though this might be off the table if I was seen again with the Undersiders.

I would need to find some form of backup soon: Staying an independent cape was not a good survival strategy. This was why we were put in teams of 3-4 back in Konoha, and also brought back Aegis's point about independent capes not lasting long. However, I couldn't join the Wards and it wouldn't be a good idea to join the Undersiders if I didn't have to yet, since it would close too many doors.

I would hold off for a while, trying to maintain my independence and be on the lookout for those I could trust, within reason, to watch my back.

I mulled over some more thoughts and ideas, before finally managing to fall asleep, despite my tumultuous, whirling mind.

* * *

When I woke up I was asked some more simple questions, and then about a half-hour later I was let out, given back my equipment and a nice breakfast.

They told me that it was quite early, but Panacea had been called and should be by soon to patch me up.

I was lead to one of the break rooms near the front, just past the point where the public had access to.

I had learned Panacea was a healer from a hero group called New Wave. She had also been involved in the Undersiders' bank robbery incident on Thursday, though the how was unclear. She was considered one of the best healers in the world. I would get healed, and then start acting out my plans to get home.

"Just so you know, the offer to join The Wards is still open." Armsmaster whispered to me.

* * *

 **(Actually meets Panacea here).**

* * *

About 30 minutes later, a girl in a white costume and a giant red + entered the room with Armsmaster. I noted that she didn't have a mask like the other costumed people I had seen. I also noticed she had deep bags around her eyes. She hadn't slept well for a while. Nor did she seem to be able to compensate for that with her chakra. I also noticed a bruise on the right side of her face.

"Is this her?" She asked somewhat curtly. Armsmaster nodded.

She turned towards me. "Hi, my name is Panacea, I need your permission, to heal you, for legal reasons. Can I proceed?"

I nodded my head and she touched my hand. Her eyes widened. I felt my body healing more rapidly than I ever thought it could before, even from Tsunade. My ears finished healing in a matter of seconds, and the other cuts, abrasions and other injuries from my fights I hadn't gotten to also healed extremely quickly. The gash in my arm and the bullet wound in my side was fully healed from the bullet, instead of merely closed from my mystic palm. My throat ended up also feeling healed, even though I hadn't even realized it had been damaged.

And yet, at the same time, all the fixes were physical. My chakra was untouched, only being affected indirectly by responding to the physical healing. It was almost like speaking by _individually_ and _distinctly_ forcing your lungs, larynx, lips and tongue to move in the correct way to make the sounds, rather than by trying to speak and having the organs and body parts reacting naturally to accommodate. It was very strange.

Panacea opened her mouth as if to ask a question, before closing it again. I assumed she had noticed something strange about me. Not good.

"Do you want me to heal your scars?" She asked.

She was very thorough. Considering she hadn't touched my chakra directly yet, I didn't think she knew about my chakra network. So what had she sensed that was so strange _?_ I would have to talk with her after.

"No, leave them." I replied.

"I'm done." She said while still looking at me as if trying to figure something out. It seemed she was even worse than me at hiding things.

"Isn't she a little young to get into fights like that Armsmaster?" She asked.

"It wasn't meant to get that rough. It was a normal patrol in a fairly stable part of town. Apparently **Hokage** noticed something wrong and led The Wards a little off the path." Armsmaster responded with a warning tone.

"You noticed something?" She asked me.

"Yeah, I can sometimes tell when something is going wrong." I responded.

"Huh. Hey, do you mind if my sister comes in? She actually woke up early on a Sunday to meet with the new cape, and she never does that. If you don't meet her, well, she'll be very disappointed."

I thought about it. I didn't have much time to waste, but if things went wrong and I was stuck here longer than I thought I would be, being friendly with a healer would be a necessity. From what I had read, each person had a different power, and the number of people who could heal others like Panacea could was horrifically sparse.

Not to mention I could sense there was another parahuman in the next room, who I assumed was Glory Girl since I had sensed her come with Panacea until Panacea broke off to meet with me, and according to my research Glory Girl was Panacea's only sister.

"Ok, but I need it to be short." I told her.

She gave me a hesitant sad smile. "OK great." She went into the next room, while Armsmaster sat down in a chair nearby. He was probably looking at something through his visor. Less than a minute later, Panacea returned with a very muscular floating blond girl in what looked like a white cheerleader uniform. Either they were stepsisters or one of them was adopted.

Panacea's sister was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. She radiated majesty, beauty, and power. I felt excited, a sense of awe and admiration towards her, intimidated, and that I was in a genjutsu.

"Hi, Hokage right? De-Gallant told me you went on a practice patrol with him and saved Vista or something? He wouldn't tell me much." Glory girl (I assumed) said as I made my hand seal.

"Release!" I said quietly. It felt different from most genjutsu, but it was similar enough that the release worked. The flying cheerleader looked struck, and the sensations faded. Panacea looked startled as well.*

Now that I wasn't being manipulated I had time to consider that _she was just casually flying!_ Well, floating, but still. That must feel awesome.

"What was that?" The flying girl asked me.

"You were trying to control me, I stopped you."

"Sorry about that. Wait, you can stop it?" She said.

"Yeah." I said. I needed to make this quick.

"So what, you have some sort of trump power? Seems kind of limited unless you have some other powers as well. Anyway, can you tell me what happened yesterday?"

"New master, can fully control people, and use their powers. They tried to get Vista, failed, but got away with Cricket."

Panacea instantly shifted and stared at me, while her sister shivered in midair. I felt a strong sense of fear towards her before I broke the genjutsu, saying "Release!" quietly.

"She fought _**that**_ master?" Panacea asked. "Armsmaster, has she been screened?"

"Do you know about them?" I managed to beat out Armsmaster and Glory Girl's response.

She withdrew into herself a little before taking a deep breath and explaining. "Yeah, but before I explain, I need to know you've been screened."

"What? Ames, How would you know about some new master? I've never heard of anyone nearby capable of controlling other capes." Glory Girl responded. "And ugh. That sounds awful."

"Armsmaster?" Panacea hinted towards me.

"We checked her out and made sure she remembered what had happened last time we met. If she was being mastered, the master must have gained her memories. Also, testimony from Gallant implies that the new master had trouble controlling her, so we're pretty sure this is really Hokage." Armsmaster responded. 'Now _what do you know about this new master_?"

"Last night I was confronted by a group of E88 capes. The master had made Cricket kill Victor, and almost kill Othala. They made me heal her. They also told to me to pass on that the new master isn't perfect at imitating the mastered capes. Othala and Victor apparently had been able to tell something was off with Cricket before she attacked them."

"What? Why didn't you report this when we called you?" "You healed a supervillian Ames? Why? And why didn't you tell me about this?" Armsmaster and Glory Girl called out simultaneously.

"Glory Girl, drop it. Armsmaster, it happened last night, and you told me to come in this morning. I thought I would just tell you in person."

"Ames you can't just tell me to drop it! You were approached by supervillains, alone! This is the second time this has happened in four days! How could I not be freaked out right now?"

I released again and the aura faded. Glory Girl blushed then grew enraged and turned towards me before turning back to Panacea.

"Seriously Ames, we need to talk about this! I don't know why you were so freaked out at the bank, but you didn't even let me know that supervilllians approached you alone, again? You don't have to tell me everything but you have to know I'm here for you. How can I help if you don't tell me what's happening?"

Panacea withdrew again. "Christ, I didn't mean to make you feel worse, but seriously you can't go through this alone."

"Fine, but not now." Panacea said wearily.

"You said the second time. The first time was the bank robbery right?" I asked.

"Yeah" Glory Girl answered. "When I found out where Tattletale and Skitter are hiding away, I swear I'm gonna -" She looked at Armsmaster. "Take them in to be dealt with legally." She finished lamely.

"What actually happened?" I asked. There was surprisingly little info on what had actually happened during the robbery, despite all the witnesses.

"No." Panacea said.

"Sorry, if she doesn't want to talk about it here, we won't talk about it here. By the way, you never told me what happened when you went on the patrol. "

"I'm sorry." I told Panacea. That must be part of why she looked so terrible, possibly where she got the bruise.

"For what? You didn't do anything." Glory Girl asked confused.

"Just that Panacea and you had to go through something like that." I replied.

"Thanks." Panacea said after a moment.

"I hate that scum like the E88 and the Undersiders think they can just freely go about our city doing what they please. Someone needs to teach them a lesson." Glory girl responded angrily.

"Are the Undersiders really that bad?" I asked.

Glory Girl looked incandescent with anger and let out the strongest wave of intimidation yet. "Yes. They. Are." She growled out before the emotional pressure dissipated.

"Well, if there's nothing else then, thanks for healing me Panacea. I think I can go now." I said getting up.

"Already?" Glory Girl asked. "But you haven't told us anything yet! Hey wait. Are you going anywhere specific? Maybe I can drop you off."

"And maybe if you learned to control your aura, you wouldn't scare people off before they can talk to you!" I heard Panacea whisper.

"Maybe, can it wait till we're outside?" I said, hinting towards Armsmaster.

Glory Girl shrugged. "OK. I guess."

"Wait before you go. What did you do with Bakuda's bombs? I know she had more with her, the PRT team investigating said there was plenty of room in the Jeep and witnesses claim you did something with them." Armsmaster asked me.

" Are you accusing me of anything?" I asked.

"No" I could see him frown below his visor. "I just want to warn you that her bombs are dangerous and they might detonate from simply being jarred a bit, or even just randomly without maintenance. Since they are tinker bombs, they could have devastating effects. If you do have them, it would be in your best interests to let us look at them and make sure they don't go off."

"If I had them, then I can almost guarantee that they are at least as safe as they would be if you had them." I responded.

"I don't think you truly understand how dangerous they are."

I shrugged.

"Why would you think that you would be able to keep the bombs safely?" He asked.

" _If_ I had them." I stressed. "And trade secret."

"I think you're making a mistake." He paused as he walked over to me. "Here's our number, in case you change your mind about that, want to officially join the Wards, or have an emergency." Armsmaster said as he came over to me and handed me a business card.

I already had it thanks to Vista, but I took the card.

"Also, Vista wanted you to know she is thankful for what you did for her." He told me.

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"Still in M/S protocols. She was possessed for longer, and her parents asked us to keep her there longer. We had to comply, unfortunately."

I absorbed that, and then nodded. I didn't agree with it either, and could have checked her personally to see if she was being mastered, but I couldn't waste the time and she was not in danger at the moment. Too much time had already been lost in this building as it was.

"Hey, can I keep the mask?" I asked Armsmaster before I left. Didn't want to be accused of theft.

He hesitated for a second before nodding.

I walked out with Panacea and Glory Girl.

* * *

"So where did you want to go so bad that you couldn't let Mr. Stick-Up-His-Protocols know about it?" Glory Girl asked after we had walked about a block away.

"Hey Glory Girl, do you mind if I talk to Panacea alone for a minute?" I asked.

"Not that I don't trust you or anything, but do you really think I'm going to leave my sister alone with another new cape?"

"It's fine." Panacea said.

"Well, ok. But I'll be watching you." Glory girl then flew away about 100 feet while Panacea and I sat down at the bus stop.

"So what did you want to talk about? Let me guess, someone you know needs my healing? I'm at the hospital almost every Saturday, and some weeknights, and I really shouldn't show special favoritism to families of capes. _"_ Panacea asked.

"No, actually. Can you keep a secret?"

Her eyes narrowed. "It depends on the secret. I really hope you're not trying to pull something here. You won't like the results."

I shook my head. "No, nothing like that. I just know that you're one of the only healers in the city, and I noticed you're injured." I hinted at her face.

"Yes, Obviously I can't heal myself." She said dryly. "Is there a point to this, or are you just pointing out the irony?"

"No, it's just that, if you promise to not reveal how it happened, I can heal that for you."

Her posture changed and her eyes widened. Then they grew mean again.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, I just don't want people to know I can heal others. I'm trying to keep a low profile, and that really wouldn't help."

"You expect me to believe a new cape appears that can heal others, and they just so happen to come up and offer to heal me for free? What, is this your idea of a mean joke? Or can you really heal others, but the healing give you some sort of influence over me?"

"First, you healed me, I would just be returning the favor. Second, no, it doesn't give me influence over you, other than whatever you might feel towards a normal doctor for bandaging you up. I just don't want it to be known I can heal others." I replied.

"Why?" Panacea asked, with a strange hint of despair and accusation in her voice.

People never seem to listen. "First, as I said I'm trying to keep a low profile. Second, I can only heal minor damages like bruises, cuts, colds, and in special circumstances, weariness and Third? It's costly. There's a reason I didn't fully heal myself before you came. I also can't heal broken bones, or deep, or permanent injuries." I replied.

"You say you can heal yourself, and I did notice that some parts of you had healed much faster than others, but if you can't heal major injuries, how the hell did you survive getting stabbed in the heart? Your regeneration obviously isn't that powerful if you were still damaged that badly by the time I arrived. "

"About the heart healing? It… can't happen again."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to pry. I'm just under a lot of stress lately."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." I said.

She looked tempted, but hesitant. "I… I couldn't keep this a secret from Glory Girl. I would have to let her know beforehand just in case. I also won't agree to anything until I can get evidence it won't go horribly wrong. I'm sorry, but I don't know you very well, and … yet… no. I'm sorry but I can't accept your healing now." Panacea got out.

I nodded. "I understand. If you change your mind, and you see me again, just let me know. Also, my issue is I just don't want to be known in general that I can heal. If you think Glory Girl can keep it a secret, then you can tell her. Otherwise though, please don't reveal it."

"If I see you again? You don't have any other form of contact?" She asked, incredulous.

Well, I have a phone, but I'm probably going to replace it soon. I can give you that number if you want." I replied.

"Do you have an email?"

"No I don't."

"PHO account?"

"Nope."

"Do you have _any_ form of contact?" Panacea was exasperated.

"Sorry."

She was clearly frustrated.

"How can you have no form of contact?" she asked.

"I'm a new cape. I haven't really established much of an identity yet." I half-fibbed. "I can go and create an email account, but how can I let you know what it is when I do?"

"I'm in the hospital every Saturday, most Sunday nights, and occasionally on weeknights. Just ask for Panacea. I'll tell the staff to let you in to see me." Panacea replied.

"Ok."

"By the way, how does healing yourself and others connect with "noticing when something's wrong" and stopping Glory Girl's aura?"

I smiled at her, though she couldn't see it. "They don't really. My power's just weird that way."

She looked at me warily, but nodded.

"Can I call Glory Girl back now, or was there something else?"

"Not really." I wanted to know what had happened during the bank robbery, but decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to press her about it.

"Ok." She said. We got up and walked over to Glory Girl.

"So what did you two talk about?"

"Not much, Hokage just gave me something to think about." Panacea answered.

Interesting. So she wasn't sure Glory Girl could keep my healing a secret? Or was it that she thought Glory Girl would pressure her to make a choice one way or the other?

"Really? Fine. Don't tell me. But if your not going to tell me about what you talked about over there, the least you can do is tell us about what happened yesterday with the master."

I had told her I would once we had left the PRT building. I supposed it was only fair.

"I went on the sample patrol with the Wards when we ran into the master. They might be an ABB member because they were hiding in a Caucasian man's body surrounded by ABB members. They tried to master Vista, and ran away. I pursued, and ran into Hookwolf and Cricket. I told them Vista had been mastered, they said they knew, had told the Protectorate, and were holding her there until they arrived."

"Wait, _Hookwolf_ and _Cricket_ called _The Protectorate_ to pick up Vista? Now I know you're just messing with us." Glory Girl said.

"You talked with Hookwolf, and he just chatted back with you? No offense, but you have a recognizably foreign accent. Why didn't he just attack you?" Panacea asked.

"I'm assuming he didn't want to cause a war over Vista, and it's not that hard to fake an accent for a while."

"If you're gonna lie, you should probably come up with a better one than that. Hookwolf isn't exactly well known for _avoiding_ fights, and there's no way he calls the Protectorate back and gives up Vista just to be a good Samaritan." Glory Girl said.

I shrugged. "You asked what happened."

"Yeah, what really happened. Not some fantasy that you created." Glory Girl insisted.

"Well, if you don't believe it, that's your problem. After that Vista tried to run, Cricket and I teamed up to hold her down, the master switched to Cricket and escaped." I paused. "Oh, as a warning, Cricket almost deafened me with her scream. Keep that in mind the next time you see her."

Panacea nodded "Thanks for warning us." Glory Girl looked at her with some concern on her face. She was probably thinking about last night.

"Hey, Hokage, want to grab brunch with us?" Panacea asked, after looking back at Glory Girl.

"Sorry, I already ate, and I kind of have something I need to do." I apologized.

She looked disappointed. "Oh well, maybe next time. Nice meeting you Hokage. It's good to see more heroes out on the streets." Panacea said.

"Yeah, it definitely beats having more villains." Glory Girl commented.

I separated from them and walked away towards the library.

I was going to check to see if the deer had managed to pass on the message, then I was going to do more research, and search for another route home.

* * *

Author's notes + *'s

* I know that Genjutsu releases might not have that effect on the genjutsu castor normally, but the sensation of her aura failing sent a feedback to Glory Girl that let her know what had happened, and she pulled her aura back when she was aware it was active again.

****A) They have similar powers to the tribes of Konoha. She has learned that each person has a different power, and the odds of this many people working together with powers that correspond are low. Yes Regent barely qualifies, but 4 out of the 5 is still far enough to raise suspicion, especially with how varied the powersets are.

B) She winds up in a world similar, but not exactly the same as her own, in a city very far away from where she lived originally. She didn't land in China either, which might have been expected given the book is Interesting Times.

C) They are only a few years older than she is, so would be more willing to work with her on an even setting than adults here might (this is a minor thing, but it is there).

****** Yes, I know in Naruto Canon that the summoned beasts are on the same world as the human summoners (Jiraya managed to actually walk to where he summoned the Toads from once) but in Dreaming of Sunshine at the end of chapter 108, Heijimaru says he comes from "the summon realm" so I'm making that the case for now. I am also saying that the Blackbirds and Deer summons live alongside each other.

* * *

Other Author's notes

1) Idea: Panacea has been put in traumatic, dangerous situations twice in the last four days. Additionally, she has just been told by the only other cape in the city who can heal others that they hate her, and likely won't heal her if she's injured or dying.

Panacea hates the E88 and never truly considered Othalia as a viable option for healing, but it was always there as a safety net in the back of her mind. Now, she's not so sure about that. It is possible, even if very unlikely that the new cape might be able to heal others, and Panacea's going to want to get and stay on her good side if she at all can.

2) There are a few reasons Shikako is let out so early.

One, she is a minor, and them keeping her for an extended period without Parent or Guardian permission when she hasn't been accused of any crime is illegal.

Two, they have no proof she is current;y being mastered, she has answered their questions, and other then waiting, they have no other method to further check she isn't being mastered.

Three, she needed medical attention, Possibly Panacea-level medical attention if she didn't have regeneration. Allowing Panacea to meet her basically meant they had to declare her unmastered because otherwise they would have had to take in Panacea for questioning, and that would not end well for them.

3) Shikako spent a large amount of her studying on learning about the local area and world she was in. She spent the last hour or so looking for ways home and learning about Earth Aleph.


End file.
